SPORTS: Nigeria Prepares to Host All African Games

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Apr 10 2003 (IPS) - The rich Nigerian culture was on showcase this week as the country opened its new National Stadium in Abuja, the nation’s capital, in preparatory for the 8th All African Games scheduled for Oct 4-18.

”This is a glimpse of what to expect when the main games opens in October this year,” says Segun Aribike, who watched the opening ceremony of the stadium live on national television.

”The ceremony, the cultural display and the performance by the South African singer are spectacular sites to watch. Tuesday’s ceremony was a dress rehearsal for the main games slated for October,” Aribike, a sports journalist, told IPS on Thursday.

South Africa’s singer, Brenda Fasie, turned the lush football pitch to a stage, as she trilled fans with her epic songs. More than 40,000 spectators were inside the 60,000-seater stadium.

The new stadium, which covers 150 hectares, boasts of Olympic standard athletic tracks, presidential lounge, dope control room, commentary booths and control rooms, among others.

The stadium, whose construction began in 2000, cost 38 billion Naira (about 380 million U.S. dollars).

Diplomats who joined President Olusegun Obasanjo in a guided tour of the stadium have described it as a huge project, one of the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa.

”The stadium is a jewel to Africa. It will not only promote sports in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, but it will also strengthen and unify Africa. It is a money well spent,” Benvit Adekambi, Benin’s ambassador to Nigeria told journalists on Tuesday.

Some Nigerians argue that the amount spent in the construction of the stadium should have been used to rehabilitate all the existing stadiums in the country to bring them up to international standards. They are worried that the new stadium would be neglected like the other old ones.

”The magnificent National Theatre in Lagos is being put up for sale because of lack of maintenance, the National Stadium in Lagos is presently under very bad condition due to lack of maintenance, several other structures suffer the same fate, what makes the new stadium in Abuja different. I believe it will suffer the same fate of neglect in due course,” says Samuel Akindele, a sports fan in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.

”If governments wants to promote Nigerian culture through the All African Games, it could have used the huge amount on a new stadium to rehabilitate the National Stadium in Lagos and the stadiums in other capitals, then split the various events among some of the stadiums, to allow visiting athletes and sportspersons see the rich culture of the different part of the country,” Akindele told IPS.

Echoing similar sentiments, Lagos Sports Philanthropist, Okoya Thomas, urged the government to undertake the rehabilitation of the National Stadium in Lagos without delay, to bring it to international standards.

The National Stadium of Lagos, which had an initial capacity for 60,000 spectators when it was commissioned in 1972 to host the 2nd All African Games in 1973, was upgraded for the 1999 10th FIFA World Youth Soccer Championship. It now has a capacity for only 35,000 spectators. Lately, it has turned into an eyesore, with most of the facilities not functioning.

To keep the new stadium in shape even after the All African Games, Akindele suggested that, the facilities should be thrown open for the staging of musical and cultural events. ”By this, the much need maintenance money would be generated and it can sustain itself without having to rely on government funding,” he says.

But Magnus Kpakol, Chief Economic Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, has defended the huge capital investment by the government on the project, explaining that it was worth it because Nigerians stand to benefit economically from the complex.

”Apart from the beauty it has added to the serenity of Abuja, the stadium will also provide a means of livelihood to the residents of the Federal Capital Territory,” he told journalists after a guided tour of the facilities on Tuesday.

Officials of the Organising Committee of the 8th All African Games (COJA) have assured that security would be stepped up during the October games, dubbed ”Abuja 2003”.

Amos Adamu, Executive Director of COJA, said: ”We are ready to organise the best Games ever, there is perfect arrangement for security, crowd control, transportation and so on. We have the best facilities and everything is set. There is no cause for alarm”.

Abubakar Atiku, Nigeria’s vice President, whose office oversees sports, said: ”Preparations for the 8th All African Games are on course and God willing, we shall stage the most successful edition of the Games. The Games will enable government leave enduring legacies including world class sporting facilities and trained manpower in sports organisation and management.”

COJA has registered hundreds of volunteers, including President Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku, to ensure smooth and successful games. According to Atiku, the volunteer service scheme would be transformed into a National Rapid Response Volunteer Corps for national emergency.