The National Stadium, Abuja, was purposely built by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration for Nigeria to host the 8th All Africa Games, Abuja 2003 and on completion became a pride of Nigerians in the diaspora.
The stadium, which was constructed between September 2000 and April 2003 at a cost of $360 million, was a world-class structure delivered to Nigeria in time. It was commissioned on April 8, 2003 with a match between former African champions, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan and their rivals, Sunshine Stars of Akure. At the end of the historic match, the Oluyole warlords triumphed 1-0 courtesy Shakiru Lawal’s effort .
The stadium consists of Package A and Package B. While Package A comprises an all-covered main bowl with a 60,491 sitting capacity with other facilities like presidential suite and viewing area, corporate suites, modern turnstiles, banks, media facilities, two electronic scoreboards, floodlights, a helipad, standard practice pitches, velodrome, among others, Package B has indoor sports hall, gymnasium, tennis courts, handball courts, volleyball courts, baseball and soft ball complex, hockey pitch, swimming pools, an artificial lake, fire-fighting equipment and others.
The stadium, for sometime, was a pride of the sports-loving Nigerians but 14 years after it was delivered, the edifice has practically become a rot, a shadow of its old self: a sad commentary of the poor maintenance culture or even outright lack of it in the country. Though the managers of Package A are trying to keep the place clean, Package B is in deplorable state as it has been taken over by weeds to the extent that grasses have outgrown the beautiful landscaping therein.
Visits to the stadium by Tribunesport revealed a complete rot and a national shame. The green pitch of the main bowl has turned brown, while the tartan track is wearing off. The velodrome has been turned into a store, where all sorts are now being stored. The suites are virtually not occupied, save for very, very few ones that are occupied by some groups, including the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), which has its national headquarters there. Until recently, the whole of the complex was in darkness as there was no public power supply after the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) disconnected the stadium due to its huge electricity debt. However, power supply has been restored there now.
The facilities in Package B have so much deteriorated that it seems no one even cares. Lying fallow are fire-fighting vehicles with deflated tyres. The vehicles at the time Tribunesport visited were not in good condition even if there was any fire outbreak in the stadium. The roofing of the sports halls are falling off, while some of seats in the swimming pool are bad.
The swimming pools are a reflection of the poor maintenance in this part of the world. Though the 7ft pool has clean and treated water, the same cannot be said of the 18ft pool which is an eyesore such that no swimmer can venture near it. It was gathered that the water in the 7ft pool being maintained through the money being generated by individuals, who Tribunesport gathered formed a swimming club, charging a token for those using the pool.
“A lot of things have gone wrong here,” a source in the stadium told Tribunesport. “But the major problem facing us here is poor funding to maintain these facilities. When the contractors who built the stadium, Julius Berger, was maintaining this place you would discover that the National Stadium, Abuja, was a pride of all. The grass of the main pitch in the main bowl was lush green, while other facilities were well maintained then. But the reverse is the case as you too can see for yourself.”
It was gathered that when Julius Berger was maintaining the facility, it was being paid as much as N1.2billion to maintain the Package A alone but, according to stadium’s staff members, who pleaded anonymity, what is being provided by the Federal Government for maintenance of the stadium is grossly inadequate, considering the standard of the facilities to be maintained.
Only a few days ago, Secretary-General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr Sanusi Mohammed said that national teams could not play matches at the stadium as a result of the poor pitch of the turf.
“The National Stadium, Abuja is under renovation and so, there is no facility for us to play our matches here,” he said.
It was further gathered that the sorry state of Package B is so because the individual contracted to be clearing the weeds in the complex withdrew his services as a result of the huge debt being owed him. This, according to a source, explained why the whole complex is so bushy. “It is even better now that the rains have stopped. If it were to be during the rainy season, you would have taught this place is a forest,” said the staff member.
A source informed Tribunesport that for the challenge of deplorable facilities to be adequately tackled, National Assembly members had to be fully involved, adding that, “there is the need to get our federal legislators involved. I learnt that the Ministry of Sports budgeted N1.5billion for maintenance of stadia in its 2017 budget proposal only for the National Assembly to reduce it to a ‘mere’ N300million. How far can this amount go in maintaining all the stadiums belonging to the Federal Government in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Enugu and Kaduna. That is why I said the National Assembly needed to be fully involved.”
Attempts made by Tribunesport to speak with the managers of Package A and B of the stadium on the state of the facilities and what is being done to maintain them were not successful. At the time of visiting, the manager in charge of Package B was said to have gone out, though a source informed that he might not be willing to talk to the press on the state of the facilities.
At the office of the stadium manager in charge of Package A, a staff member who identified himself as the assistant manager, who Tribunesport later identified as Okezie, stated that this reporter could not see the manager, who was said to be in his office at the time of visit. According to him, it would be a breach of protocols for either the manager or he himself to talk to the press without clearance from their superior, particularly the Director of Facilities in the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development and therefore referred Tribunesport to the office of the director, which is within the stadium complex.
When Tribunesport visited the director’s office, he was said to have gone to the Federal Secretariat, while a senior officer in the office who did not want to be named, further, referred this reporter to the director of press in the ministry, who he said was better positioned to talk to the press on behalf of the ministry. According to the officer, “I think the director of press is the appropriate person you can contact. Try and see him as I am sure he will give you all the necessary information you require.”
When contacted, the director of press, Mr Tolu Makinde, confirmed that the ministry was aware of the deplorable state of the facilities in the stadium and attributed the sorry state to lack of funds to properly maintain the complex. He added that what was budgeted for the maintenance of the Federal Government stadia across the country in 2017 was so grossly inadequate, informing that only N300million was appropriated for maintenance this year.
“The ministry is aware and is very much concerned that the facilities there [National Stadium, Abuja] are deteriorating. A lot of the structures there need to be revamped. But the major challenge there is about funding,” Makinde told Tribunesport.
According to him, “because of the economic situation in the country, funding has been going down. Even when Nigeria had money and money was provided, probably a lot could have been done. At present, the amount of money that is available for repairs and revamping is gradually dwindling but the ministry is thinking out of the box. It is looking for solutions out of the box whether we can partner with the private investors to make some of the facilities functional.
“We are looking at the option of annual budgetary provision and that will not address the problem. So the second option that the ministry is trying to look at is the issue of public private partnership. That is why we started with discussing with the Lagos State government to see if that idea can come on board and is successful. Then it can be used to solve the problems of other stadia in the country.”The director of press further stated that the ministry and the National Assembly were operating on the same page as far as maintenance of the facilities at the stadium was concerned. He revealed that the Minister of Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung and some members of the National Assembly were at the stadium a few days ago to see the state of the facilities themselves.
“The minister and the National Assembly people are on the same page. They are aware; they too have come to see it. Even three days ago, the minister still went to see the swimming pool, it is in a sorry state. Nobody likes it [the state of deterioration]. The place is bushy. Some National Assembly members were there (too). One can only hope that what is not done this year will now go into 2018 and it will be able to help in the provision of more funding for the place,” he stated.
Until that is done and the National Stadium, Abuja is adequately maintained for it to regain its lost glory, for now it remains a shame of a country like Nigeria.
Discussion about this post