Lecturer urges NSA to upgrade facilities

The Head of Marketing of the Accra Technical University and a sports analyst, Dr Bashiru Shani, has called for the upgrading of sporting facilities in the country to meet international standards.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Dr Shani said international standards required that sporting facilities should have  basic amenities such as changing rooms for players, referees, inner perimeter fencing and a demarcated area for operations.

Poor facilities

Sadly, most stadia in the country lack these basic requirements, giving many experts a cause to worry.

"The four stadia that we have in Accra, Kumasi, Essipon and Tamale meet the standard but when it comes to managing the facilities there are gaps and so there is a lot to be done," he noted.

The lecturer disclosed that some Premier League centres did not the meet international standards in terms of design and structure and that a careful redevelopment would go a long way to help meet the needed requirements as we find ourselves in a global space.

Marketing

Dr Shani stated further that "we need to be upstream with our construction architecture, making sure they are up to global standards and also ensure our facilities are managed well,” adding that he believed that operating the facilities without profit was due to the inability of the managers to be marketing-oriented and customer focused, though there were many interested parties around.

He urged the NSA to engage the interested parties and know what they wanted in order to produce services to satisfy their clients and generate much revenue for the state.

Qualified personnel

He also tasked the NSA to employ qualified personnel to manage the various facilities since it was a capital intensive enterprise to manage over the short, medium and long-term.
He said to rake in the desired revenue, the personnel needed to be trained to put the facilities in shape.

Personal experience

"I have travelled across the country and I have seen sports centres overgrown with weed. If there are no Premier League teams there, it does not stop the facilities from being used," he stated.

Currently, the Essipon and Kumasi sports stadia are under renovation to give it a facelift after 12 years of existence and lack of maintenance.