Rendering Sports Infrastructures Productive

The appalling stories of the yesteryears when Cameroon prided herself as one of the football powerhouses in Africa regrettably so with little or no infrastructures to show for the successes is now a thing of the past. So much time and resources have been dedicated to now dot the country with state-of-the-art football facilities capable of hosting any global competition. 
The 2016 Female Africa Nations Cup which Cameroon hosted in Limbe, Douala and Yaounde, the just-ended Africa Nations Championship which took place in the same cities and the upcoming 24-nation African Nations Cup in the male category billed for 2022 have endowed the country with what analysts have qualified as futuristic football edifices. They are really sources of national pride and Cameroonians from north to south and east to west have been all smiles ever since the sorry picture of the past started changing and keeps doing so. 
No one doubts the huge sacrifices government is making to get the fine infrastructures in place. Reason why President Paul Biya in his 2021 Youth Day message underlined that, “In spite of the difficult economic situation, our country is well prepared for both events. We have built ultra-modern facilities, some of which were used for the first time during CHAN that has just ended.” Understandably so as on account of their multiple achievements, Cameroon’s young sports men and women deserve the sacrifices made for these major investments. 
A troubling question however remains what becomes of the infrastructures after the competitions must have come and gone. The billions of scarce CFA Francs; sometimes borrowed to put in place these infrastructures, need to be refunded to the donor countries or agencies. It would be counter-productive to go get money from elsewhere to pay back the loans contracted to bequeath Cameroon with the Japoma, Olembe, Bafoussam and Limbe newly constructed stadia likewise the Yaounde Omnisport, Douala Reunification and Garoua infrastructures wholly rehabilitated to give the country of the Indomitable Lions the structures worthy of the five-time African champions. 
Inasmuch as the available and soon-to-be completed structures continually serve as genuine motives of pride for Cameroonians and an encouragement to win more victories, one worry remains disturbing -  How to preserve the infrastructures and render them profitable. The fear is more upsetting as the surge in football infrastructures contrasts with the performance of almost all Cameroon’s selections on the international scene. Except for the surprising victories notably of the senior men’s team at the 2017 Nations Cup in Gabon and the Under-17 selection at the category’s African Championship in Tanzania in 2019, Cameroon’s performance at the contine...