Hosting AFCON 2027 shouldn’t be Nigeria’s priority — Lawmaker, Ekene Adams

Chairman House Committee on Sports, Ekene Adams has said hosting the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) should not be a priority for Nigeria.

He said Nigeria should focus more on the welfare of the citizens rather than hosting any competition now or in the near future.

The federal lawmaker said that as much as it is a good thing for the country to host major championships, it should not be now when Nigerians are passing through economic crunches.

“We are not kicking against bidding for the Nations Cup but I am against the timing of such a step in relation to our current economic realities which every one of us is not ignorant of.

“As someone who has the fear of God, I can tell you for free that now that we are talking about hosting the Nations Cup, it has to do with building new facilities and renovating stadiums but all of these things are only beneficiary to we the stakeholders and politicians to make more money. I don’t think we mean well for the common man if this is our current priority as a government. The common man can hardly feed three times a day with the effect of the subsidy and it will not be good to hide under the disguise of sports and things like this to enrich ourselves at the expense of Nigerians.

“For example, the palliatives the National Assembly approved for Nigerians to cushion the effect of the subsidy hardship have not gotten to Nigerians across the country and the only thing we the stakeholders are concerned about now is wanting to host the AFCON.

“And after spending so much money to host this AFCON, we will then leave the facilities dilapidated as usual and the lack of maintenance story will continue which another government will come again to spend so much on and nothing meaningful would have changed. As a lawmaker representing the people, I must also stress that I am an apostle of good change and will not support anything I know will not benefit the common man, “Ekene said in a statement made available to Tribune Sports by his media office.

Nigeria and Benin are presenting a joint bid to host the 2027 AFCON and the Minister of Sports Senator John Enoh will be attending the CAF Executive meeting in Cairo, Egypt, for this purpose on Wednesday.

READ ALSO FROM SPORTING TRIBUNE