The National Stadium in Abuja, now named after the late MKO Abiola, was a beauty to behold. It is in a bad shape, but giving it a facelift seems not a priority to the Federal Government, writes SEGUN OGUNJIMI, Abuja.
SUPER Eagles Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr had hoped to start the final phase of camping for the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations at the Abuja National Stadium. But, the stadium’s in bad shape altered his plan.
Weeks before the tournament kicked off, Rohr told The Nation: “We are looking now for our final campsite. We want a place that has good conditioning for training. I like so much to do the camping in Abuja because it would be hot also in Abuja compare with the same hot weather in Egypt, host of the 2019 AFCON. But the problem is that we don’t have the infrastructure in Abuja right now. We don’t have any good pitch to train in Abuja now. But normally I like to start preparations for major competitions like this in my own country. We are Nigerians. We have to start here. It is symbolic but we need good condition. So if the Abuja Stadium is not fixed on time, we have to go in search of alternatives. It should either be in a Northern African Country or Southern Europe where it will be easier to assemble our players that ply their football trade in Europe.”
Rohr is not the only one troubled by the state of the stadium. Ex-Super Eagles coach Chief Adegboye Onigbinde blamed it on lack of a developmental programme for sports.
His words: “I have made up my mind not to be talking on sports matters again because whatever I say will be misinterpreted and will make more enemies for speaking the truth as usual. But it’s you people (journalists) that always force me to talk. If you visit the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan now you will want to cry also the National Stadium in Lagos and the Abuja National Stadium we are talking about now. Do you know what caused this if we have a developmental programme we will know that we need equipment and facilities to execute it? We don’t have a developmental programme so what do we need the stadium for? It is needed that leads to supply but when we have not created the need for its (stadium) use so what do we need it for? The only need for our stadia now is for political gatherings, parties, religious crusades and others. But where is the developmental program that the stadium will be useful for? That is the question we must all ask ourselves.”
Abuja National Stadium is a 60,491 seater ultra-modern multipurpose sports complex tagged by many as one of the greatest architectural masterpieces in Abuja. The stadium serves as a home to the Nigerian National Football Team, the Super Eagles, as well as a centre for various social, cultural, and religious events.
The Federal Government approved the contract for the construction of the National Stadium complex and Games Village on July 18, 2000. The Stadium was constructed to host the 8th All Africa Games which took place in October 2003. The Abuja Stadium meets the requirements of the international safety standards; it is equipped with emergency service units, closed-circuit security cameras as well as crowd control steel fencing. There are also stand-by firefighting equipment and metal detectors which have been put in place in case of any mishaps.
The contract for the design of the stadium was awarded to Schlaich Bergermann & Partners, a world-renowned structural engineering firm based in Stuttgart, Germany. They were responsible for the architectural design, execution planning, as well as constructional supervision of the stadium. The construction was done in co-operation with a local engineering firm that has served the country for decades. Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, a subsidiary of Bilfinger Berger AG, was responsible for the construction of the main stadium, providing manpower, supplies, and equipment for the execution of the project. The contract for the construction of the Games Village, a comprehensive housing facility for visiting athletes, was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
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All facilities within the stadium are designed and engineered in compliance with the requirements of international sports associations, particularly the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
The stadium itself comprises of 60,491 capacity covered main bowl, Presidential suite and viewing Area, 56 corporate suites, modern turnstiles, box office, post offices, banks, media facilities, two scoreboards and floodlights shops and kiosks for snacks. It also has a standby power supply system Helipad 3000, capacity indoor sports hall, 2000 capacity gymnasium, 2000 capacity swimming pool, 4000 vehicle capacity public parking lot, one artificial lake, 3000 capacity hockey stadium, 400 capacity VIP car park, Baseball and softball complex.
Solomon Dalung on the state of Abuja National Stadium
Minister of Sports Solomon Dalung said the government signed a maintenance contract with the contractor for N2 billion a year and government could not continue.
Dalung said: “The problem with the Abuja National Stadium and even our sporting facilities is that the manner with which they were constructed did not take into consideration future plans of the maintenance and sustenance. The construction of the Abuja National Stadium was done in a manner that maintenance becomes impossible except the contractor to sustain the maintenance contract.
“Government signed a maintenance contract with the contractor. It was N2 billion a year and the government could not continue. The government abandoned it.
“And with the abandonment of the maintenance contract government budget cannot maintain that particular edifice. That is the truth. The annual budget of maintenance sometimes is N200 million, sometimes is N150 million for all the sporting facilities in the country in Kaduna, Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Ibadan and Bauchi. The maintenance even the cost of running the generating sets there and their maintenance is even more than what we are saying. N200 million cannot maintain the National Stadium in Abuja because if the government withdrew because of N2 billion maintenance at least to be fair and reasonable, the maintenance if the government is going to protect the edifice government should approve a budget between N1 billion to at least N500 million. If we have N500 million it looks a bit reasonable if the initial cost of maintaining the Abuja National Stadium edifice is N2 billion. So that is the situation.”
The minister went on: “We have been managing from our overheads to keep certain critical components of the stadium going. Sometimes when we have events taking place there we mobilize intervention funds to try to update some of the facilities. There is an ongoing concession process which is already matured. The only challenge we have is lack of budgetary provision but it’s already in 2019 budget and if it passed we will concession Abuja and Lagos. We have gotten an interesting expression of interest from serious-minded private sector men and women. So we are looking forward to getting the budget passed and get the funds to complete the process.
“The writing of the media to me is an expression of concern. I mean you put a lot of money to build something and then you watched it deteriorate and it is deteriorating in a manner similar to the one that has happened in Lagos. So I think the writing of the media is just raising of an alarm and concern that oh this one is going the same way like Lagos. To me it is understandable. People might express their opinion in a different manner, it might look like oh they are over criticizing but to me the bottom line of whatever you read about the Abuja National Stadium is people expressing their concern.
“I have once participated in a competition at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, where I ran 4×400 metres relay race and I won a gold medal that time. Then sadly for me to come back as a Minister in the same place and have difficulty to organise it, I mean I try to reconcile the memory. So if people are complaining of what is happening here you have to give it to them that that is the reason.”
Way out
Dalung said: “The only way to salvage the situation it is either the government will take the bull by the horn to put the necessary maintenance funds and update the facilities. In fact, I have invited the two contractors to embark on evaluation survey and come back and give me an estimate of what I would need and it is still within the figures of 5 to 7 billion naira. When we talk about the Abuja National Stadium people just look at the main bowl but the stadium is a complete community of itself. If you go round the whole of the stadium and come back that is when you will appreciate the edifice. It is not a small investment and almost everything needed is there.
“So there is no deliberate effort from anybody to frustrate the maintenance of the Abuja National Stadium. Just like people are lamenting every day when I drive past the stadium I feel pains in my mind. The stadium is dear to me but it is just like having a sick baby that is dying and you don’t have money to take him to the hospital. So the only thing you can be doing is to be giving him native herbs like I am doing now”.
Mike Oboh, a sportswriter, said: “This is a stadium that hosted the All Africa Games which most of us were proud of so it is very sad to see the stadium deteriorated to this level. A lush green pitch with facilities at their best and everywhere you go attest to the fact that the stadium ranks among the best in Africa, but maintenance culture is the major problem. It was as a result of a loss of foresight by our administrators. The government too because the man in charge of sports the Sports Minister Solomon Dalung has always complained of lack of funds too, We killed the national stadium Lagos and we are almost killing this (Abuja). You are just talking about the pitch; the track at the Abuja National Stadium is something else. Go to Package B of the Stadium, you will see the Indoor sports hall. We wanted to host the Africa Volleyball Championship there, the President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engineer Musa Nimrod, spent a lot of money, his personal money for that matter to get it into shape. That’s a shame. If you appoint appropriate professionals to run our games, all these problems will be a thing of the past. Until we have people that are really interested in sports mostly government or President that cares about youth development and who are not paying lip service to this desired development then we will get there. The truth must be told. Abuja National Stadium needs to be rehabilitated, needs to be put into proper shape for the use of our sports in the country.”
Another sports writer, David Mbogua, also expressed his disgust at the sorry state of the Abuja National Stadium. “It’s quite unfortunate because we had this facility in 2003 when we hosted the All Africa Games here in Abuja then. The Stadium was the talk of the town then because everybody was happy to have this wonderful edifice. Unfortunately, the same stadium has been affected sorely by maintenance culture. The stadium is in a complete sorry state now, nobody uses it. It has been abandoned at the moment. It’s either Godswil Akpabio Stadium in Uyo and presently it is the stadium in Asaba (Late Stephen Keshi Stadium) that have been hosting Super Eagles and other national teams matches which shouldn’t be so. Personally, as a sports lover, I am sad but I also pray one day we may get somebody who will be sincere to bring that facility back to life because every country has their own national stadium. Abuja National Stadium shouldn’t be allowed to waste away just like that, it must be put to use like we have Wembley Stadium in England. We shouldn’t be taking our national teams round, round the country. We should have a base for our national teams.”
Olawale Alabi, who is the Sports Editor of News Agency of Nigeria, also expressed sadness and worries about the present state of the Abuja National Stadium.
He said:“ It should be something that should worry all of us because that stadium was put together with many billions of naira which would have been running into hundreds of billions by now just because we have not been doing the right thing which is maintenance. Again we should ask those who have been in charge at the sports ministry what has been happening to the stadium because they cannot say the budget that they make every year there is no money for facilities’ maintenance. So what has been happening concerning this? Yes, they will tell you that budget has not been performing and okay you budget like N500 million government will give just about N200 million or N300 million. But knowing the worth of that stadium and knowing the fact that having such a facility helps to initiate better sports development we should have gone into either public/private partnership to make that place better but didn’t do it. So a lot of those who have been in charge have a lot of questions to answer there.”
With the stadium now named after the late MKO Abiola, who won the June 12, 1993 presidential election, not a few hope that the honour will be completed by returning it to its old glory.