The project is being handled by a contracting firm named Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Limited, registered in 2008.
Barely 18 days to the commencement of the 21st National Sports Festival tagged "Delta 2022", one of the indoor sports halls under construction at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, Delta state capital on Thursday collapsed.
The project is being handled by a contracting firm named Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Limited, registered in 2008.
SaharaReporters gathered that the firm was in a hurry to deliver the project before the kick-off of the sports festival.
The sports festival which commences on November 28 will end on December 10, 2022, according to the organisers.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that the collapsed structure damaged a section of a building in the stadium.
"The collapse is a result of the rush by the contractor, leading to a substandard job just to beat the deadline given to him for the completion of the job before the commencement of the sports festival billed for November 28, 2022.
“Actually, it's an ironwork that was being carried out. It's the roofing of the indoor sports hall under construction at the Stephen Keshi International Stadium, Asaba. Some of the iron works were not properly done to standard, leading to the collapse."
Nigeria’s youth and sports minister, Sunday Dare, last Friday expressed satisfaction with the work done while inspecting the level of work and facilities at the stadium. He declared that the sports festival tagged Delta 2022 will go ahead as scheduled.
Our correspondent observed on Thursday that the premises of the collapsed structure had been cordoned off to prevent people from gaining access to the place and probably taking photographs.
In 2018, thousands of athletes and spectators narrowly escaped death following the collapse of a substandard overhead water tank at the stadium during the 21st African Senior Athletics Championships, tagged 'Asaba 2018'.
When contacted for comments, Chairman of Delta Sports Commission, who is also Governor Ifeanyi Okowa's brother, Tonobok Okowa, said what happened cannot be described as a collapse.
Tonobok, who is also the president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), the incident came "as a result of the crane carrying something to the other side of the structure and the crane mistakenly touched an iron that fell”.
“So, you can't call that a collapse issue," he said.