WordStage Newsonline-- The Nigeria Premier League (NPL) has indefinitely banned the Katsina Ala Stadium in Benue State and the Samuel Okwaraji Stadium in Imo State from hosting any league match.

Explaining the decision to ban the stadia, the NPL board referred to the match report in the game between Lobi Stars and Akwa United which described the pitch in Katsina Ala as ‘dusty and not television friendly’ while the report filed by the inspection team on the Orlu Township Stadium showed that the stadium was ‘not ready to host Premier League matches’ yet.

Consequently, Lobi Stars of Makurdi and Heartland FC of Owerri had been directed to look for alternative venues for their subsequent home league matches.

In related cases, the NPL has given provisional approvals to Hadeja Township Stadium in Jigawa State as well as the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State that were earlier banned from hosting league matches.

According to NPL, the reports from the inspection team to the Hadeja indicated tremendous improvements on the problem areas spotted during the previous inspections while the Nigeria Football League was impressed with the level of improvement on the pitch of Awolowo stadium that was earlier condemned by the board owing to its ‘dusty’ nature.

In view of this, Jigawa Golden Stars Football Club of Dutse had been given provisional approval to play its home league fixtures at Hadeja Township Stadium beginning from Week 7 while another inspection is expected to be conducted to confirm the level of maintenance of the stadium. Similarly, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan had been given provisional approval to play its home fixtures at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium as from Week 8.