Shocking Things City People Found Out
It has been rumoured that the Federal Government and Lagos state have abandoned the treasured National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, with many complaining about its deplorable state, City People decided to visit this once-called iconic place. It was rainy on Friday morning, May 3, 2024, around 10 am. On entering the place, it was no different from what was said about it. At the entrance of the Stadium, bus riders have turned it into a place where motorists pick up passengers. You also see beggars and area boys standing at the main entrance collecting money from the drivers coming in and going out, with sachets alcoholic sellers sitting with them while they sit, loiter and litter the place with its sachets.
At the left side of the gate, while coming in, is the National Table Tennis Federation, NTTF with people at the entrance shade shivering because of the heavy rain. The state of that complex is pitiable as it is covered with the flood, and for you to enter the complex, you will need to take off your footwear and roll up your trousers.
Leaving the NTTF complex is the straight road to the main bowl, some cars were stuck because of heavy flooding along the way. The boxing complex, where GOtv sometimes hosts its boxing competition right at the main bowl complex, many cars were stuck because of the heavy flood leading to the complex.
Just by the right on the same road, just in front of the main bowl, you will see how dirty and unattractive it looks, due to lack of maintenance. In front of the boxing section, it’s clear that people are stuck because water has covered them and people find it difficult to get in. The same goes for the wrestling section.
Going around the Complex and getting to the entrance of the pitch were some people urinating just beside the entrance of the stadium turf. Asking why they were doing so and not using the toilet, one of them said: “Are you just coming to this place for the first time?
“Didn’t you see beside you that the toilets are not functioning and the management has refused to do something about it. “We have been living here since 2019 and this place has been this way even before we came here and since the toilets are not working, we do what we’ve been seeing others that were here before us do,” he said.
Disabled sports personnel, who chose not to disclose her name said that this stadium is nothing like what it was in the 90s. “I’m over 50 years old and was born and berth in Surulere. I’ve been coming to this place since I was 19, I wanted to be a weightlifter but couldn’t make it so I just started wrestling.
“Then this place was a place of dream to be but not anymore. The area boys now collect money if they look at you and you panic, they will intimidate you and even steal your phone. People sell all sorts of things here at night, and it’s gradually turning into a business complex and not a stadium anymore,” she said.
According to her, there are over four clubs and many eateries and restaurants in the stadium which is not supposed to be.
“At night, you’d see prostitutes standing in front of the stadium gates and some do pay the security people at the gate to allow them to come in. You can see the activity banners placed on the wall of the main bowl, where on earth if not here does that happen,” she said.
The lounges and eateries are, Fiesta Club and Lounge, Ojez Sports Lounge, One-on-One fast food, Chinese and Indian restaurant, Live Jazz Music and club party (every Sunday), and Karaoke night (every Monday), all at the main bowl complex.
Making my way to the main bowl, the place is like a 20-year-old abandoned property. Most of the seats have pulled off and the leftovers are in desert form with the colours peeling off.
The pitch grasses have grown and look rough, old, and faded. The track is still ok but waterlogged due to a lack of active drainage, which was supposed to be draining the waters from both the pitch and turf.
In an attempt to speak to the security personnel in charge of maintaining the pitch and track turf, he said I should head to the Stadium management to get the information I needed, that he is not in the position to grant an audience.
Meanwhile, City People recalls that the head of stadium management, the director declined to speak to us in her office, saying that she has no power to speak, despite being the director.
Along the way is the tennis court, which is nothing to write home about as the court nets and turfs are in disarray and almost pulling off. Close to it is the swimming pool section, which the people there claim it’s been privatised and has nothing to do with the stadium management.
The water inside the pool itself is as dirty as a swamp. The diving section looks as if it has not been changed in months because of its colour and moisture in the water.
While trying to get a clear picture of the pool water, I was asked not to take a picture and asked to leave the premises or risk losing my phone.
The Nigerian Television Authority, NTA Sports Lagos complex is just adjacent to the pool complex, which looks abandoned and all the entrances broken and half open. At around 12:57 pm, the rain stopped and people started leaving the stadium, to our surprise a bukka (mama put) was at the gate, few steps to the main gate, people were holding plates and waiting for their turn and the women didn’t even blink an eye that she could be arrested for selling food inside the stadium. Not surprised though, she must have paid the security personnel in charge for her to be allowed to come in. City People recalls its previous visit to the stadium, where we spoke to some coaches, and they admitted that the stadium is in a state of abandonment.
Charles Ibeziako, the coach of Raptors Basketball Academy said that, honestly speaking, you know Nigerians love football in this country so everything goes, not organized and it hurts me a lot. The stadium Is not organised, we have a lot of football academies and you can’t have any academy and be training your boys on the roadsides, because the main court is in terrible form.
“But in a big stadium like this, you’re supposed to have shops or restaurants where you can eat, it’s allowed, there’s no problem about that. My problem with them is the nuisance moving around, sleeping around without doing nothing, that’s a criminal thing” he said.
When asked about solutions to bring the glory days back to the stadium and avoid these ill things going on in the stadium, he said, “The most important thing is that people are in charge, senior managers, managers, and the security agents, these are the people that are supposed to organise it.
“If you’re a coach that went to National Institute of Sports, NIS, before entering with your team, you should be registered and not just come and train with no identification,” he said. Lawrence Fayemi, Prime kick Taekwondo Academy chief instructor, secretary general of the Professional Taekwondo Coach’s Association of Nigeria, and senior National Taekwondo referee said that one of the problems we have in this country is the administration and the people controlling it.
“So many times we have said people should not be playing ball here on the roadsides, and they will not listen, that is even the least of it because if you go to the back of the main pitch, you will even see food vendors and beer selling shops which isn’t supposed to be.
“The truth is that there is no money to maintain the stadium, even to clean the stadium or cut the grass, the management will say there is no money. So they allow all these things to happen because they want to generate money for the upkeep of the stadium.
“Some religious groups have turned the beautiful pitches to crusade ground, trampling on grasses. Although they claim to pay money for the use of the place, which the management uses to maintain the place, such events are not what stadia are meant for,” he said.
–Benprince Ezeh
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