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Military Unlawful Takes Over Area 10 Sports Ground, Disrupts Sporting Activities
Military Unlawful Takes Over Area 10 Sports Ground, Disrupts Sporting Activities
Joel Ajayi
The Area 10 Sports Ground, the only sporting complex in the Federal Capital Territory where Athletes train ahead of their participation at major tournaments has been unlawful takes over by the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Airforce and Nigeria Navy.
Area 10 Sports Ground recently have been converted to their parking lot which is affecting the growth and development of the game in the country’s capital city.
The Spacealso serves as a source of generating revenue for the sports department as events like Trade Fair and other activities takes place there.
But the Nigeria military which office is located adjacent to the Sports Center saw the place as a comfortable and spacious place for their personals to park their cars sought the permission of the then Director of Sports to allow them use the space on a temporary note. The Director obliged them by given them a provisional approval pending when they would be able to get a permanent place.
This was how the relationship between the Sports Department of the Federal Capital Territory and the Nigeria Army began. But gradually the volume of vehicle parked on the ground by the military began to affect the activities of the Sports Department which then resulted to asking them to leave, but when the military refused the Sports department had no other option but to lock them out.
In sharp reaction by that the military who were in desperate need of a space for their personnel to park their vehicles forcefully moved over to the other wing of the Sporting center, stationing their men on the gate to chase off any person considered to be an intruder. The matter got so bad to the extent that the military even refused entry those who had paid for the space to hold their trade fair.
Every efforts by the sports department through the office of the Social Development to make the military see reasons that the ground belongs to them has fallen on deaf ear.
Our investigation revealed that as a way of solving the matter diplomatically, the issue was reported to the FCT minister, Mohammed Bello who surprisingly is not showing any concern about it and has so far done nothing about the situation, a situation that may lead to the final takeover of the ground by the military, and should that happen, sports development in the FCT will greatly be affected.
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CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TRAJECTORY IN NIGERIA
This week, millions of Nigerians and others across the globe will join the Ministry of Aviation and Space Development under the irrepressible leadership of the Honourable Minister, Festus Keyamo(SAN),and all the notable Aviation sector stakeholders in and outside the country,in celebrating a century of Nigeria’s civil aviation history.
There is no doubt that under the present leadership of the Honourable Minister and within the short spell of time in his stewardship,he has consciously and intentionally embarked on a “silent revolution” for the industry with very veritable and laudable landmarks that have consistently grown the industry.
Some of these spirited efforts for instance have consequently led to trust restoration amongst international lessors, financier,any global partners.Of note also is assidiously working for the full domestication and implementation of the “Cape Town Convention Agreement” ,which gives Airlines access to modern fleets of competitive rates as well as enforcement of IDERA(Irrevocable Deregulation and Export Request Authorization).
Having well applauded these vital contemporary initiatives,it will also be germane to cast our minds in retrospect by taking a peep into our history over several decades to recognise some of the notable forebears in the industry whose impressionabl efforts cannot be overlooked,as they took the impetuous initiatives of breaking the ice at the nascent stage.
It will aptly corroborate the truism which says that… ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.
The above is vividly captured from a tribute by the First Republic Minister of Aviation Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at the funeral of late Igwe of Oba,HRH Peter Ezenwa(MFR) in 2018.
It states inter alia…”One significant thing I will say many people didn’t know is that the first indigenous airline that was to run in Nigeria was known as “STANDARD AIRLINE”.It was founded in 1966 by a company formed by Igwe Peter Ezenwa from Oba,and had on board,John Nwankwu from Abagana,Edward Ebo from Ezinifitte,(all from Anambra state),John Anyaehie from Nkwerre in Imo state,and lastly my very self Mbazulike Amaechi.
The five of us later acquired two brand new aircrafts,and had four pilots,namely;Unachievable,John Emma Ngwu and Felix Offor,who was to be the General Manager of the airline.
But just about the time for the take-off the crisis of the military takeover erupted in the North as the planes were on their way for delivery to us.In fact the bank handling the transaction was to allow the planes to be flown from the USA,but the news of the war broke out in 1967,the insurance company cabled for the cancellation of the deal as they will not be able to cover the risk cost of aircrafts being flown into war zone.
So,we asked the manufacturers to take the two aircrafts back to their country and hold on for six months with the hope of that the war will end within the requested time frame,but the war didn’t end as thought.We consequently asked for refund and they deducted some money and refunded the balance which was deposited at the London branch of African Continental Bank(ACB).
When the government took over the operations of ACB,we still hoped for the refund but unfortunately were disappointed that the Federal government took over the whole money and we lost everything.”
Further in line with our historical perspective,it will also be pertinent some of the later years reformists in the likes of Engr Onyereri and Harold Demuren who advertently sponsored some far reaching regulations that eventually steered the industry towards greater autonomy with the passage of the 2005 Civil Aviation Act,which I was also a prime participant of in my capacity as an Aviation sub chair in then House of Representatives.
As we mark this great century milestone,and with the clear evidential pathway set out by the current managers of the industry under the indomitable leadership of Honourable Minister, I do not see the sky posing any limitations as they say,but rather availing new vistas of limitless growth opportunities.
CONGRATULATIONS.
Hon Chidi Nwogu
Former member House of Representatives & presently Governing Council member
,African Aviation and Aerospace University,Abuja.
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