Soccer fans at the Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra last Sunday had to watch part of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Cote d’ Ivoire and Benin in partial darkness after one of the four floodlights suddenly went off. The lights, mounted at the racecourse end of the pitch suddenly went off and rendered portions of the pitch near the goal post in a dark atmosphere. The rest of the match had to be played under the remaining three floodlights instead of the usual four. However, information gathered from the National Sports Council (NSC) reveals that the failure of the floodlight was due to high voltage and could have resulted in another calamity but for the timely intervention of engineers of the Council. The floodlight failure, according to the engineers could have caused an uncontrollable fire out-break at the stadium and consequently bring the match to an abrupt end, whilst the over 30,000 supporters at the stadium will have had difficulties moving out of the stadium. According to the NSC, the failure of the floodlight was not the fault of the Council, but an electrical fault, which was beyond their control. Further checks from external engineers who were invited by the NSC to assess the situation on Monday morning confirmed it was due to electrical fault. Ishmael Tensangna, an engineer from Harmel Electric Enterprise who was among the external engineers who examined the situation said the Boarder Breaker (power control system) in the floodlights was a sub-standard one. “If the boarder breaker had been a quality one, the situation could have been controlled automatically,” Tensengna stated. Speaking later with the GNA Sports, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSC, Worlanyo Agrah said the cause of the failure was not the fault of the Council but noted that efforts are being made to rectify the situation. Mr Agra, however, expressed worry over efforts by sections of the media to shift the blame on the NSC and called on them to do the necessary checks before going on air to make unfounded comments. Commenting on the non-function of the scoreboard at the Stadium, Mr Agrah said they have received the necessary approval from the Tender Board to commence repair works on the scoreboard. He said the NSC cannot be faulted for the delay, because they have to go through due process before works on the faulty scoreboard can commence. Mr Agrah indicated that the contractors have done the necessary feasibility studies on the scoreboard and was confident that it will soon be back in action. Source: GNA