Gabriel Atumeyi
Sunday Dare, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, says the ministry never requested for the sum of N81 million to cut grass at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
The minister was reacting to a story making the round that his ministry is planning to spend the said amount on cutting grass inside the stadium.
In a statement on Sunday by John Akanji, Dare’s media assistant, the minister said it would be a misplaced priority to spend such a huge amount to cut grass when there are so many other competing matters that need to be attended to.
“The Minister believes merely cutting the grass would amount to not just gross waste of scarce resources, but misplacement of priorities,” the statement read.
“This clarifications became necessary following a misleading and out of context newspaper report that the Minister said a proposed amount of N81 million was received by the Ministry.
“It has become imperative and a necessity to clear the air on the misleading headline by a newspaper that the Minister would spend N81 million to clear grass at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja.
“What the Minister said was that it would be wrong and a misplaced priority to spend a huge amount of N81 million to cut grass when there are so many other competing matters that need to be attended to.
“A one-time clearing of the stadium would cost N81 million. If I tell Nigerians that I would be spending N81 million to cut grass so that there would be no rats and grasscutters, what do you think of their response?
“The same press would condemn such action as waste of money and misplacement of priorities. It is therefore unethical, mischievous, unprofessional and unfair to twist the statement to suit the interest of the writer”, it read.