Minister of Sports and Youths Development, Sunday Dare, has disclosed that the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos will be ready for use in August, after 19 years of abandonment.

The minister who disclosed this on Sunday, when he paid a courtesy call on the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, in Abeokuta, said the stadium was rehabilitated through the adopt-a-stadium initiative by his ministry.

He explained that the National Stadium, Lagos, which was built in 1973 fell into a state of disrepair almost 18 years ago due to neglect and total abandonment by successive administrations in the country.

The minister, however, said his ministry’s initiative of partnering private individuals in the country to adopt a stadium for rehabilitation, had helped in rebuilding the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abuja and the National Stadium, Lagos.

The minister, therefore, called on Governor Abiodun to key into an adopt-an-athlete initiative of his ministry, to nurture, develop and encourage Nigerian athletes wherever they are in the world.

Responding, Abiodun who said youths empowerment and job creation was one of the five cardinal pillars of his administration, disclosed that the ICT TechHub was deliberately conceptualised to convert youths of the state from ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ to more profitable ICT ventures.