Abuja National Stadium now a laughing stock

The imposing stadium built in 2003 at whopping cost of over N6b during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo was used in hosting the 8th edition of the All Africa Games. Perhaps, a mention of COJA will quickly bring back to memory the events that preceded the stadium construction and the games proper. The Abuja […]

The imposing stadium built in 2003 at whopping cost of over N6b during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo was used in hosting the 8th edition of the All Africa Games. Perhaps, a mention of COJA will quickly bring back to memory the events that preceded the stadium construction and the games proper.

The Abuja National stadium comes in two packages. Package A built by construction giants, Julius Berger accommodates the main bowl where football matches are played on the once lush green natural turf. In addition to the main bowl, there are two training pitches and a velodrome which is meant to carter for indoor cycling and other games.

Package B provides facilities like the 2000 seater multi-purpose indoor sports hall for indoor and out-door games like basketball, table tennis, volleyball, wrestling, boxing, taekwondo, and a host of others.

There are also other facilities like the ultra-modern swimming pool, out-door handball courts, volleyball courts, lawn tennis courts and a state of the art astro-turf hockey stadium. Both the swimming pool and hockey stadium are in pathetic conditions presently.

This is not surprising to many because Nigeria is famous for lack of maintenance culture. When the contract for the construction of the sports facilities was awarded, it was vehemently opposed by not a few Nigerians they knew what would become of the stadium.

In the face of mounting criticisms, construction work started behind schedule but with sufficient funding from government, the facilities were delivered on time for the games to be ‘successfully’ hosted. The world class sporting facilities dazzled visiting athletes, especially those from the poorer African countries. Most had neither seen nor had a feel of such breath-taking facilities.

However, the story of the Abuja National stadium took a new dimension even before the dust raised by the competitors settled down. There was massive looting as most installations like air conditioners, TV sets, communication gadgets and computers at the different venues developed wings and varnished into thin air.

Today, the facilities still exist but are like orphans. As feared, most of them have not been put to good use and are gradually decaying. Apart from the main bowl which hosted the opening and closing ceremony of the 8th All Africa Games, almost all other facilities have not enjoyed the required patronage from the relevant sports.

Those who said the Abuja national stadium would suffer the same fate with the Lagos National Stadium have been proved right as the once glittering edifice has become a laughing stock due to poor maintenance.

Today, the mainbowl which hosted the finals of the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup is not good enough to host Super Eagles matches. The playing turf is so rough that even a horse racing competition cannot hold there. The most shocking aspect of it all is that the stadium has been turned down by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF which said it cannot host Super Eagles 2013 Africa Cup of Nation qualifiers in June.

Recently, Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia after having a training session with his boys at the playing field did not mince words as he described it as worse than where cows are bred. He said: “Look at where we trained this morning. It is like where they breed cows. We have to wake up. I don’t know what else to say but whoever is in charge should do something. We cannot continue like this”,

Indications are high that either UJ Esuene Stadium Calabar has been selected to hos Eagles 2013 AFCON and 2004 World Cup qualifiers. If this stadium is considered better than the once magnificent Abuja National Stadium, it means therefore that it has indeed become a shadow of its old self.

Two facilities, the velodrome and the swimming pool stand out as the worst hit in terms of usage and maintenance. Since it was built, the velodrome has not hosted any sport it was meant to serve. Even during the 8th All Africa Games, events which would have required the use of the velodrome did not feature at the games. Consequently, it was used as a relaxation spot for athletes and officials and presently is serves as venue for social events like musical concerts, religious crusades and wedding receptions.

The swimming pool is in dire need of help. A visit to the swimming pool revealed an unpleasant sight. The hitherto glittering pool is now a smelly pound filled to the brim with fungi and maggots. The reason is not far-fetched. It has been abandoned as competitions are rarely hosted there. A notice on one of the doors leading into the pool showed that swimmers are expected to pay a fee before they are allowed to swim but with the present condition of the pool, it is hard to say, if it still enjoys patronage.

It is imperative to state here that the general surroundings in both package A and B suffered so much in the hands of the dry season which is just giving way to the rainy season. Clearly, the neatly laid lawns are at the mercy of the two seasons. Once it is in the rainy season, the flowers blossom and the environment comes alive but during dry season they wither and wait patiently for the rainy season to set in. However, the initial plan was to have an all season greenish environment that would be appealing to the eyes.

The mainbowl of the stadium was without electricity for over eight months just as the FCT Water Board had disconnected the complex due to over N75m debt owed it. Consequently, the absence of electricity and water supply led to the deplorable state of the mainbowl and the swimming pool. Since there was no electricity to pump and treat water for the playing turf to be watered, the grass which requires treated water withered. The swimming pool also has become a smelly pond.

At the moment, power has been restored to the stadium just as there are frantic efforts to resuscitate the playing turf. But for now, it is a no go area as far as international matches are concerned. The blame for the pathetic state of the stadium has been laid on the door steps of the National Sports Commission, NSC, but the Director of Facilities in the commission, Engineer Abubakar Gusau Magaji quickly exonerated his office when he spoke to Shot! on the decaying stadium.

He said: “The pitch is looking brownish but it is not our fault. It is because of the vandalization of PHCN cables that plunged the stadium into darkness for months. The amount of electricity we require there, no generator can provide such. We need electricity to pump and water the pitches. The pitches are specially built and have to be watered three times daily and we have water treatment plant because it is not ordinary water we use. However, there was neither water nor power. Water has to be treated because the grass is not common. If not treated the chemicals that come with natural water would damage it.

“If you go back to the maintenance money given before when Julius Berger was there and now, there is so much difference. The construction company was given N1.2 billion per annum to maintain only package A but after they left, how much money are we collecting?. In this year’s budget N300m was appropriated for all the six national stadia across Nigeria namely Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna, Bauchi and Abuja. If you divide that by six stadia, how much do you get?, N50m each per stadia divide that 50 by 12 because we are not going to get the money in bulk. It comes in piece meal. So you have N50m for Abuja national stadium, for heaven’s sake, even electricity bill will clear the money not to talk of water and other maintenance.

“The swimming pool is in a sorry state. I personally contacted the FCT Water Agency using personal contacts. I tried to explain to them when I took over that the stadium is not a money generating venture and it is government property. Apart from the swimming pool that requires high volume of water twice a year there is no need for too much water to be used there. How can somebody just sit down in his office and charge a government office a whopping amount of N75m. Where do we get N75m to pay the FCT water agency? It is not even advisable to evacuate the water inside the pool. It has been there for like seven to eight months unchanged. We don’t have water to put back. And if we throw away the one that is there, reptiles like lizards and frogs would take over the swimming pool. We spend billions to construct but we cannot budget N1b to maintain”.

To rub salt into injury, the stadium complex is without the required security as the few security personnel at the gates and inside the complex hardly give a hoot about what goes on there. This reporter drove into the stadium freely, took his pictures freely and left without anyone asking questions.

Efforts may be on to resuscitate the Abuja National Stadium but for now, it is a laughing stock because in less than a decade, the once sought after stadium is looking desolate. As it is, those who predicted its ruin in no distant time have been proved right.