Nigerian sports will continue to suffer from poor and inadequate facilities unless administrators face their official duties and allow qualified contractors to handle critical projects, the Managing Director of Monimichelle Construction Company, Ebi Egbe, has said.

Lamenting the effects of poorly built facilities on the country’s sports, Egbe said that many administrators have left their primary jobs to corner and build substandard facilities to the detriment of the country.

Pointing specifically to the lack of FIFA-approved football pitches across the country, he said: “If we can separate administrative duties from professional groundsmanship, we will drastically reduce the poor construction and bad maintenance culture of football pitches in Nigeria.

“It is the most damaging structural issue in Nigerian football development. When contracts for stadiums, training pitches, floodlights, turf systems, and sports complexes are awarded to politically connected proxy companies rather than technically competent firms, the result is usually poor-quality infrastructure, abandoned projects, inflated costs, and facilities that fail to meet international standards.

“In many cases, reputable sports construction companies with proven experience in FIFA standard turf installation, drainage systems, athletics tracks, seating engineering, and facility management are pushed aside through unethically manipulated bidding processes, unrealistic contract pricing, administrative favouritism, and coordinated blackmail or propaganda campaigns,” he lamented.

“The consequences are visible across Nigerian football. As we have witnessed, poor playing surfaces cause injuries, stadiums failing CAF/FIFA inspections, a lack of maintenance culture, the waste of public funds, and clubs being forced to play home matches away from their states.

“In the sports construction industry, especially pitch construction, once contractors prioritise profit over quality or clients assume football pitch construction is cheap, we will continue getting it wrong. A standard football pitch is a technical infrastructure project, not just ordinary landscaping.”

Egbe affirmed that Nigeria has the capacity to build international standard facilities from scratch to finish, adding, however, that many administrators corner these jobs, which they award to unqualified persons to the detriment of the country.

He also canvassed tax holidays for sports facilities firms to help companies contribute to the growth of the sports sector.

Parliamentarians should consider passing laws on tax exemptions for sports construction companies importing specialised materials and equipment needed to rebuild our decayed sports facilities.

“Import duties and government levies on sports construction materials are currently too high, and these costs eventually reflect in the bill of quantity presented to clients.

“If the government creates a more supportive policy environment, contractors will be better positioned to deliver durable, FIFA-standard sports facilities across Nigeria.”