Ghana's Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Evans Opoku Bobie, has emphasized the importance of safety and security at sports stadiums in the country.
Speaking at a dialogue aimed at encouraging fans to return to local match centers, Osei stated that ensuring the safety of fans should be a top priority.
The Ghana Premier League has recently experienced a decline in fan attendance, with many stadiums struggling to fill up. Bobie believes that one of the key reasons for this is the lack of security assurances for fans.
He further added that some people decide not to attend games because they do not feel safe or comfortable with the stadium setup. He called for collaboration between the police and security agencies to ensure that they are well-trained in crowd control.
"Safety and security at the stadium should be number one; it is very key. It can cause everything to collapse. If something happens at the stadium, a lot of people will not come back again," he told Asempa FM.
"If I’m going to watch a game and my security is not guaranteed, I won’t go. Some people look at the set up of stadiums and decide not to go and watch games.
"Our collaboration with the police and security agencies should be looked at. There are a lot of police men and security officers who don’t know anything about crowd control, so they need to be education about that."