Aliko Dangote, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dangote Group, on Thursday in Abuja pledged to invest more in sports.
The business magnate made the pledge during a visit to the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja to ascertain the quality of renovation done at the facility’s main bowl.
He said such an investment would be a way of fast-tracking the socio-economic development of the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dangote had undertaken the re-grassing and installation of scoreboards at the stadium.
This was under the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development’s “Adopt-a-Pitch” initiative.
An excited Dangote said he was impressed with the level of work at the stadium, and assured of more support for sports development in the country.
He said the Dangote Group would work more closely with the Federal Government to ensure a holistic development of sports in the country in line with international best practices.
“We will continue to support sports under your leadership (Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare) and you should be rest assured that we will continue to do our best as part of our corporate social responsibility as a company,” Dangote said.
He said the Dangote Group which had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the maintenance of the stadium for two years would continue to ensure better sports facilities.
Earlier, Dare had thanked Dangote for accepting to renovate the stadium, pointing out that he was the first to embrace the ministry’s “Adopt-a-Pitch” initiative.
“I want to thank you for investing in the development of our sports and the fruit of that partnership has blossomed into what we see here today.
“I will like to inform you that we have just received CAF certification of this stadium for international matches, which means that the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers will be played here.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without your support,” he said.
NAN reports that the rehabilitated stadium main bowl is complete with new grass, nursery beds, two digital scoreboards and 24 sprinklers, among other things.
