Ogun State begins renovation of MKO Abiola International Stadium

Ogun Government has begun renovation of the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, to provide adequate comfort for spectators.

The Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Dapo Abiodun, Mr. Kunle Somorin, said in a statement that the 10,000-capacity stadium would be fully covered to ensure a facelift.

He said that the renovation was part of Abiodun’s promise to raise the bar of sports and sporting activities in Ogun.

According to him, it is a follow-up to the money spent on the state’s contingent to the just-concluded 2022 National Sports Festival hosted by Delta.

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He said that the reconstruction of the stadium started on Friday and continued until Saturday morning as more materials and workers arrived at the site.

The governor’s aide said that the facelift was expected to be completed in four weeks.

He noted that the stadium, named after the winner of Nigeria’s June 12 Presidential Election, Bashorun MKO Abiola, who also hailed from Abeokuta, had been used as a multi-sports event centre for over two decades.

He said the stadium had played host to state-owned and private football clubs, including the Gateway Football Club and Abiola Babes International Football club.

”While the stadium has played host to local and international football matches, it has also produced stars that have proven their mantle globally in the world of sports,” he said.

Somorin said that about 20 percent of the stadium had been covered as of press time.

He said that the arrangement to cover the whole spectators’ stand would no doubt add beauty, and comfort and further raise the standard of the facility.

He added that it would also prepare the stadium for the 2023 National Sports Festival which Ogun recently got the right to host.