By; AYO OJEDOKUN.
The contractor handling the pitch installation at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba, MoniMichelle Sports Facilities Maintenance Limited, has appealed to Abia State Government to release outstanding funds to the company to enable it complete the job.
The company’s Director, Ebi Egbe, told NNSports that the job has been delayed due to paucity of funds promising that once funds are released to the company by the Abia State Government, the job will be completed and Enyimba return back to the 25,000- seater stadium to play their matches.
“MoniMichelle is a very serious company and we don’t mess around with our job. When we got the contract on December 21, 2015, we were given the impression that Enyimba will play their first CAF Champions League match in February, 2016 at the stadium. But after more than a year, we are still waiting for the government to pay us.
“I want Abia State Government to understand that Enyimba is not just an Abia State club but a Nigerian club and it is sad that such a club will be playing two seasons outside Aba.
“The state government should also understand that there will be a lot of variations on the contract sum because 90 per cent of my equipment are imported and when we started the job, euro was exchanging for N 270 but now it has gone up to N 510.
“I have always advised my clients not to allow a jobs of two months to drag to two years because it leads to a lot of variations and that is the situation we are now with the job.
The FIFA Player agent whose company has carried out renovation work of TP Mazembe Stadium in Congo DRC as well as Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Rwanda national stadiums assured that once funds are released, they will complete the job between ten to twelve days, even as he lamented lack of maintenance culture of the various stadias across the country.
