The Sorry State of Awka Road Stadium; And Why Govt Needs To Act Fast

 If you are a resident in the metropolitan city of Onitsha, Anambra State; you'll realize that almost every Saturday; troops of youths, children, old folks, foreigners jog to the infamous Awka Road Stadium (in Inland Town Onitsha) to perform various exercises they have in mind for the day.

One, seeing the mammoth that troops to that Stadium every Saturday might believe that it is a world-class stadium; but when you will eventually pay the place a visit, you will be extremely shocked as to what you will see. 

The Awka Road Stadium (to the best of my knowledge) is as old as anything. The last time I visited that stadium was in late 2021; and I can't help but to shed tears for the deteriorating nature of the stadium. 

The tracks, on which sprinters (or athletes) are made to run, have already succumbed to the harsh weather and poor management and have already started to break away. 

The place, where fans can sit and watch sporting events take place already have quite a good number of their seats in bad shapes or conditions. 

Moving over to the back of the region where fans sit to watch sporting events; you'll realize that some people have turned that region into a venue where they can pass out excreta and other refuse alike; not forgetting to the add that mother nature has already taken due course in that area by growing as much as elephant grass as possible. 

Furthermore, it will interest you to know that even though quite a good number of people frequent that stadium just to exercise their bones (or workout); there are quite a good number of other individuals who come there for sinister activities too. 

Back in 2015, I almost fell victim to robbers (at that same stadium) whom were bent on robbing me of all I had; after they (the robbers) searched me and realized that I had nothing on me, they left me alone and told me to vamos (go). 

I've also heard stories of people too falling victims to robbers within this same stadium thereby bringing about the question on what the government is doing as regards the security of this stadium. 

Furthermore, having listed out all the problems I believe that are associated with Awka Road Stadium; below are the solutions that I have thought out and I believe if the government ever implements them; things will surely go well for the users of that stadium:

The government should make sure that adequate (and well paid and well armed) security personnels are made available at the stadium; their presence alone I believe will dissuade some individuals whom are trying to create a nuisance within the stadium. 

The government should make sure that they repay the tracks where the athletes (or sprinters) run on; doing so will decrease the chances of people hurting themselves during sporting events. 

They (The government) should also see to it that the seats where thousands of fans sit on to watch sporting events are in good condition; and also they should make sure they provide basic structures such as a waste bin and a rest room for people to avoid them messing up the whole place. 

Finally, I strongly believe that for better maintenance of Awka Road Stadium; a toll or some kind of gate fee for access to the stadium should be implemented; this way, revenue generated from the stadium would be put into great use towards the development of the stadium. 

I believe that if all these is done within Awka Road Stadium, that it won't be long until that Stadium reaches the high level that we wanted it to reach in the first place. 

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