The National Institute for Sports has asserted ownership of a 200-bed hostel at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, following competing eviction notices issued by it and the National Sports Commission to alleged unauthorised occupants of the facility.
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The disputed hostel is situated opposite the Athletes Development Centre in Package B of the stadium complex.
Head of the Works Department at NIS, Jude Abu, raised the ownership dispute on Monday during a guided inspection of the facility with journalists in Abuja.
Ben Ogbemudia, Special Assistant on Media in the Office of the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the NIS Athletes Development Centre, quoted Abu as maintaining that ownership of the property remained vested in the institute.
“The ownership of the property is not in doubt and remains vested in the institute,” Abu said.
He alleged that an official notice placed at the premises by the NIS was removed by the NSC on September 20 and replaced with a separate eviction notice bearing the authority of the commission.
Abu described the alleged removal as provocative and unlawful, urging the NSC to refrain from interfering with facilities claimed by the institute within the stadium complex.
He maintained that the hostel was commissioned as accommodation for NIS students during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to him, a plaque at the premises records the facility’s commissioning as an NIS hostel.
Abu said the building remained important to the institute’s operations, particularly for accommodating students undertaking different programmes at its Abuja centre.
He rejected any suggestion that the NIS was under the administrative control of the NSC, arguing that both organisations operate as separate government institutions.
“Both the NIS and NSC are independent government parastatals. The NIS is in no way subservient to the NSC,” Ogbemudia quoted him as saying.
The NIS consequently directed all alleged unauthorised occupants and intruders to vacate the premises on or before December 31.
“I call on all unauthorised occupants and intruders to vacate the premises on or before December 31.
“Failure to comply will compel NIS to take necessary legal action to reclaim the facility,” Abu warned.
The dispute comes amid plans by the Federal Government, through the NSC, to rehabilitate major facilities at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.
In May, the commission announced the approval of several sports-infrastructure projects, including the proposed redevelopment of a 200-bed athletes’ hostel within the Abuja stadium complex into a hotel facility for athletes and other users.
The NSC’s earlier announcement described the building as an athletes’ hostel included in the broader stadium redevelopment programme, while the NIS now maintains that it was specifically constructed and commissioned for its students.
The two institutions have also reportedly issued separate notices asking unauthorised occupants to leave the building, highlighting the unresolved dispute over which agency possesses the authority to manage and control it.
The detailed legal or administrative basis of the NSC’s claim was not provided in the NIS statement. The commission had also not been quoted as responding to the allegations that it removed the institute’s notice or unlawfully asserted control over the property.
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