By TheNewspad
Nigeria, once home to Africa’s best sporting facilities, now bears the ignoble title of a “one-stadium nation.” Despite the Country’s size and passion for sport, only the Godswill Akpabio stadium, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State approaches CAF (Confederation of African Football) standards and even that edifice is now over-used, fails to meet global requirements for a standard stadium.
Nigeria hosts many stadia, the National stadium in Lagos, Teslim Balogun stadium, Lekan Salami stadium in Ibadan, the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin City, Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium in Enugu, Sani Abacha stadium in Kano amongst many others.
But all the stadia fail to meet CAF or FIFA requirements due to the flagrant neglect and lack of investment in infrastructure. This erosion of quality stems from a wider culture of poor maintenance that has plagued the nation’s infrastructure for decades.
Many of these stadia, have a sad tale concerning their current look. For example the Moshood Abiola national stadium in Abuja, once heralded as a national pride is now in a state of decay. When completed in 2003 ahead of the All-Africa Games, the Abuja national stadium, now renamed Moshood Abiola stadium, was a gleaming symbol.
The 60,491‐seat bowl, 56 corporate suites, Presidential lounges, media facilities, swimming pools, gymnasium, and even a helipad made it one of the world’s most expensive stadia of its era (costing approximately US$360 million), a data gleaned from The Nation Newspaper revealed.
Yet, it didn’t take long for disrepair to set in. By 2017, weeds and reptiles had overrun the premises, prompting staff to abandon offices inside for fear of snake bites and scorpion attacks, the Vanguard News reported.
Vandalism followed. Electrical cables were stolen, and the stadium fell into blackout after Abuja Electricity Distribution Company cut power for unpaid debts, the Guardian Nigeria Newspaper said.
The abandoned athlete’s hostel, intended for lodging visiting teams, instead became a den for the homeless; various budgets (N81 million in 2011, N600 million in 2013, and small sums thereafter) were allocated yet never led to completion (ICIR News).
Maintenance costs became untenable. As reported, a retainer contract with Julius Berger demanded N2 billion per annum, far above the N300 million approved for upkeep across all federal stadia. Staff note that, while about US$7 million (roughly N1.2 billion then) was estimated for necessary maintenance, actual annual budgetary support has hovered around N300 million or less.
Consequently, national teams have avoided playing in Abuja. The NFF cited the pitch’s poor quality and lack of proper facilities as reasons to host matches in Uyo, instead.
In an investigative report by ICIR news, over eight fire-fighting trucks, worth billions of naira, bought for safety during the All-Africa Games, were delivered but left to rot unmoved for almost two decades, tires deflated, frames rusted, and no agency taking responsibility.
Beyond the Moshood Abiola national stadium, the maintenance malaise isn’t limited to Abuja, there are many cases around the Country.
The Lagos national stadium, initially a versatile complex hosting football, athletics, swimming, and many sports is now derelict due to neglect.
The Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos opposite the National stadium, a project started in 1984, plagued by military-era delays, only completed in 2007 remained a white elephant for years, today the stadium is left to decay.
The Obafemi Awolowo stadium, Ibadan now known as the Liberty stadium is another. Built in 1960 with indoor facilities and a swimming pool, but its recent status is largely unmentionable and is now a relic of the past.
Many other stadia across Nigeria have suffered neglect, the Sani Abacha stadium in Kano in 2009, hosted the FIFA U20 world cup is today below standards and cannot even host CAF matches.
The renovated Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin today is now gradually falling off with faulty floodlights and poor pitch playing surface. The tartan tracks have now become ragged rugs that will not pass a World Athletics standard. The gymnasium in the stadium is nothing to write home about.
While maintenance may be an issue, another major problem is the siphoning of funds meant to build new facilities and maintain existing ones. A good example is the FIFA Goal Project.
The FIFA Goal Project, launched by world football governing body, FIFA is to support member associations with infrastructure development, and this brought a ray of hope. In 2020, Nigeria was awarded contracts to construct two mini-stadia, one in Birnin Kebbi, haphazardly completed and commissioned; the other in Ugborodo, Delta State, remains abandoned.
According to official documents from FIFA, the Ugborodo project received about US$650,000 (55% of the contract), but ground to a halt after clearing the site and starting a basic spectator stand.
The contractor cited unfamiliarity with the terrain; the NFF withheld further funds. Meanwhile, former NFF President reportedly Amaju Pinnick injected additional funds that remain unrecovered.
The NFF terminated the contract and is now seeking legal and administrative routes to both complete and reclaim funds, according to the Vanguard Newspaper report.
This decay isn’t just aesthetic, it has tangible repercussions on the Country’s sport as Alhaji Ahmed Shuaibu Gara in Gombe State, a sport stakeholder noted on Channels television Lunchtime interview.
He alleged that for almost eight months now, the National sports Commission, NSC, has being incurring expenditures and taking decisions. They are travelling all over the world and committing Nigeria without proper budget implementation”.
“We have to restore confidence between corporate Nigerian and the sports industry. Presently, there is trust deficit. We have to fight corruption, according to him.
“You talk about infrastructure. In the whole Nigeria today, there is only one stadium that meets FIFA and CAF standards. That is Godswill Akpabio stadium. If that stadium is shut down, Nigeria may have to go and player her international matches to Ghana or in South Africa. So, we (Nigeria) has to focus on infrastructure.
Gara said, “Moshood Abiola stadium that we have in Abuja cannot host any FIFA match because it’s not up to standard. Not only it was banned from hosting FIFA matches, but it was downgraded from level 4 to level 1 by FIFA”.
He insisted that, “Nigeria has to focus in having a transition programme towards further disengagement from government-funding sports. We have to give the sports federation their independence.
“We can change the name of the national sports Commission one million times, but if we do not fight corruption in sports administration or change our mindset and put the right people in the right positions, we will continue to have verbal motions without movement”, he said.
According to the sports official, “The national sports Commission has not been inaugurated since the last eight months. I hope someone will not go to court to ask for interpretation on the actions that have been taken without the proper laws. It is part of the oversight of the National Assembly to make laws and ask why the laws have not been followed”, he lamented.
TheNewspad investigation revealed that aside from undermining national pride and ability to host global sports spectacles, these poor facilities rob athletes of training and competitive opportunities at home.
On the other hand, it squanders taxpayer, donor, and international investments. Abandoned infrastructure like the athlete’s hostel and fire trucks symbolizes wasted potential, while the abandonment of FIFA-supported projects reflects governance failures.
A lasting solution to Nigeria’s decaying sports facilities begins with the creation of a National stadium Maintenance Commission, an autonomous body with its own budget line and procurement rights, insulated from the unpredictability of general federal allocations. This structure would ensure consistent funding and guarantee that maintenance budgets are ring-fenced, preventing diversion to non-sport purposes.
Alongside this, government must deepen Public–Private Partnerships by expanding initiatives like “Adopt-a-Pitch/Facility,” which has shown promise in recent renovations.
An example in point was Dangote adopting the renovation of the Moshood Abiola National stadium in 2021.
By allowing private firms or philanthropists to invest in, manage, and commercialize stadia under strict performance benchmarks and oversight, the burden of upkeep can be shared while ensuring accountability.
Protecting these investments demands strong asset protection and anti-vandalism measures. Stadia should be equipped with modern surveillance, adequate lighting, and supported by strict policing to deter theft and vandalism.
Beyond security, maintenance should follow lifecycle cost planning, budgeting not only for construction but also for regular upgrades and preventive care. Incremental, low-cost interventions like robotic lawn mowers, solar lighting, modular seating, and gradual refurbishments can extend stadium lifespans and reduce the costly cycles of neglect and major rehabilitation.
Equally critical, is transparent donor fund administration. Projects such as the FIFA Goal initiative must be managed with stage-gated payments tied to verifiable progress, independent audits, and clear dispute resolution mechanisms.
Publishing detailed progress and financial reports would strengthen public trust and donor confidence.
Stadia should be repositioned as multi-use community hubs, hosting youth tournaments, concerts, and local events, with revenue streams deliberately reinvested in upkeep. Regular, modestly scaled activities would not only keep facilities in constant use but also embed them as sustainable assets.
Indeed, Nigeria’s stadia need not be tombs of past glory; with funding, partnership, oversight, and vision, they can rise again as a constellation of world-class arenas.
