The immediate past Minister of Youth and Sport, Chief Sunday Dare, has said that the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium located at Oke Ado, Ibadan, will soon be released to the government of Oyo State by the Federal Government.
Chief Dare made this disclosure at the Veterans Night organized by the Comrade Demola Babalola-led Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Oyo State Council, as part of its 2023 Press Week held on Thursday in Ibadan.
The Ogbomoso-born Minister told journalists present that before he left office he together with other stakeholders in the Ministry of Sports had signed all necessary documents to transfer the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (formerly Liberty Stadium, Ibadan) to the government of Oyo State, to ensure better utilization and maintenance.
He said he championed the struggle of releasing the stadium to the Oyo State government when the federal government under former President Mohammadu Buhari released similar stadia in Enugu and Kaduna States owned by the Federal Government to the governments of the two states.
He said that Governor Seyi Makinde was waiting to receive the stadium once President Bola Tinubu releases it to the state. “Governor Seyi Makinde is ready to receive the Stadium and give it better management and maintenance”, he stressed.
Chief Dare nevertheless used the occasion to lament the precarious situation that journalists operate in across the globe nowadays, emphasizing however that the situation in Nigeria is worst with Nigerian journalists.
Advocating that the welfare of trained journalists needs be improved to distinguish them from the series of emergency self-styled reporters who have now invaded the social media space to churn out fake, unresearched and false news to the world. He noted that journalists occupy the Fourth Estate of the Realm fighting injustice, defending the course of ordinary persons and always putting the governments on thier toes. For this reason, he advocated that they should be treated well by their employers, and the governments should not see them as enemies.
“Many of you are no longer receiving salary and the work must go on. Don’t be discouraged; there is going to be positive change by the Grace of God. You know I belong to you. I practised journalism profession for decades. So, when I talk, I understand what I am staying”, Dare said to encourage Oyo State journalists.
