In this report, TADE MAKINDE, OLAKUNLE MARUF and ISHOLA MICHAEL visited landmark monuments named after prominent Nigerian heroes, detailing their present state and what used to be, which in most cases do not befit those whom they were named after.
ON June 12, 2019, Chief MKO Abiola, presidential candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party in the 1993 election finally got a deserved recognition at the national level when the Abuja National Stadium was named after him by President Muhammadu Buhari during this year’s Democracy Day speech at the Eagle Square in Abuja.
Abiola was a staunch sport enthusiast and supporter. He funded the defunct Abiola Babes Football Club based in Abeokuta, Ogun State and was also the Pillar of Sports in Africa due to his unwavering support for sporting activities on the continent.
However, the state of that stadium built in 2003 to host the 8th All Africa Games was reportedly in a shambles as of the time the name change was effected. There had been reports about cows entering the stadium complex and grazing there while the main football pitch was also overgrown with weeds. Even today, it is not yet a befitting stadium for a sports loving nation like Nigeria.
For several years, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Mausoleum, in memory of Nigeria’s first president and Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, in Ogbe-Abo village, Onitsha, was not completed until after 20 years after the contract was first awarded.
It was first awarded in 1998 to Messrs Lemmy Akakem for N350 million. In 2012 the Goodluck Jonathan government awarded it for N1.496 billion to be completed in 13 months, it was not. In 2011, Ziks eldest son, Chukwuemeka Azikiwe, out of frustration over the dragging of feet over the project alleged that officials of the federal Ministry of Works had embezzled the contract funds.
It was again re-awarded in 2013 to a French construction company at N1.49 billion and finally completed and inaugurated by President Buhari in
These monuments are not alone. The Obafemi Awolowo Stadium as of the time it was opened in 1959 was the best stadium in Africa. Many football star players have had the opportunity of playing inside its main bowl.
Some of these players include Iker Cassillas of Spain, Beloumi Laachder, Ali Fergani and Rabah Madjah of Algeria; Hossan Hassan of Egypt, Papa Camara of Guinea, Theophilus Abega, Mahmoud El Khatib, and Roger Milla of Cameroon; Segun Odegbami, Christian Chukwu, Adokie Amesimaka, Rashidi Yekini, Muda Lawal and several prominent Nigerian footballers.
Today the stadium is better used as a hangout and relaxation spot than for sport. Lovers of fresh fish pepper soup and beer are far more frequent at the stadium than sports fans.
The stadium which used to be the home ground of Shooting Stars Sports Club began to deteriorate after the Oyo State government constructed the Lekan Salami Stadium in the 80s. From hosting top class sporting events, it is now reduced to venue of Inter-house Sports competitions for primary and secondary schools in the state.
Basketball coach, Mr Dominic Apache, who spoke to Sunday Tribune on the state of the stadium lamented its current sorry state, especially when compared with the first class facilities that it once was.
“For a sportsman, the stadium was the place to be because of the advantage it had over others as regards facilities. It was inside the stadium that I won a gold medal in 1977 during the Oyo State Sports Festival. During the Oluyole ’79 Sports Festival, where Akeem Olajuwon was discovered, the swimming pool section was world class. The same could be said for all the other facilities that are presently rotting away.
“Today, you will weep for this country when you see the decay in infrastructure and facilities all together. The floodlights that Shooting Stars used to play under back then are no longer functioning fully. The four floodlights had 50 powerful bulbs in each stand. Also, the tunnels that footballers use have been blocked, while the pitch has become a grazing land for cows. The boxing gym and the table tennis courts are now beer parlours.
“It is like Maracana or Wembley Stadium ending up the way Liberty Stadium has become. It will be a monumental shame to the Brazilians and the British. We lack sense of appreciation of good things; that is why we could allow an edifice like that to waste away,” he said.
Gbenga Makinde, a legal practitioner used to go to the stadium in the late 80s with his dad to play Lawn Tennis. Today he goes there “to take pepper soup, because that’s the only activity that makes the stadium tick. He blamed the Federal Government for abandoning and leaving the stadium in the hands of incompetent managers.
“I remember the ambience of the stadium in 1999 when Kun Aguero of Argentina, Ono Shinji of Japan, Arjen Robben of Netherland, and other young footballers, filed out from the underground tunnel of the stadium under floodlight. I felt proud as a Nigerian that the stadium met FIFA standard to host a world class football competition. If any of those guys paid an unannounced visit to the stadium now, they would feel sorry for this country. Politics is what is killing this country. Putting people who know next to nothing in sports to administer it is a wicked injury to this nation,” the legal practitioner said.
Another stadium, named after the first prime minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa is not better off either. It was constructed in the late 1980s when the state was preparing to host the National Sports Festival in 1991.
Since then, the stadium had been renovated and redesigned in order to bring it up to international standard to be able to host international sports competitions. In 1996, it hosted the finals of the Challenge Cup between defunct Julius Berger FC and Lobi Stars FC. In 1999, it also hosted U-20 World Cup matches and in 2009 it was also one of the venues for the U-17 World Cup hosted by Nigeria just as it hosted some football matches during the 2003 All African Games also hosted by Nigeria.
The stadium is also the home ground of Bauchi State-owned football clubs playing in the country’s football leagues such as Wikki Tourists Football Club, Zabgai Football Club and Wunti Football Club.
However, in the last few years the stadium has become so dilapidated to the extent that all the above named football clubs now travel to either Jos or Gombe to play their home matches, a development that has negatively affected the growth of football in the state.
Sunday Tribune however gathered that contract for the renovation of the turf had been awarded by the state government but nothing significant had been done. As of now, only political events are held there.
Not only stadia suffer neglect; even an ordinary Race Course could suffer same fate in Sokoto. Named after Shehu Kangiwa, a former governor of the state, the Race Course is an open field which had hosted many international horse races in the past. Back then, it was a centre of attraction and well-kept. But that was a long time ago. Today, the only activities taking place there are political rallies and social functions.
A resident who spoke with Sunday Tribune lamented the general state of infrastructure in the square. According to him, “This place used to be our heritage. What we see here today is not what our forefathers bequeathed to us. I appeal to the state government to urgently right the wrongs and put this monuments to better use for generations yet unborn.»
Not faring better
If monuments named after the older generation of Nigerians suffered neglect, those named after the younger generation have not fared better. Nasarawa State, created on 1st October, 1996 by the late General Sani Abacha is a prominent spot which used to be a convergence point for the youth in Lafia, the state capital.
In appreciation of that gesture, the then state government immortalises Abacha’s son, Ibrahim, by naming the youth centre hall after him. For some years the centre was a beehive where most government functions were held and it was even a revenue-generating centre as it was also used for commercial purposes.
However, in the last eight years, it has drastically lost its glory due to government neglect. As it is, the building is now in a state of shambles, as the facilities had become dilapidated and most of the offices there are now under locked up.
Another personality similarly honoured in the state with a monument was Dr. Dalhatu Arab, a politician and physician whose contributions to the old Plateau and Nasarawa states in medicine and politics led to the naming of the state-owned hospital after him.
Today, Dalhatu Specialist Hospital, Lafia, is the largest healthcare centre in the state. Though, it was recently upgraded from a 200-bed hospital to 400-bed, it, however, lacks the needed facilities to accommodate the large number of patients coming for medical attention. Overcrowding is the order of the day.
All over the country many monuments named after prominent citizens remain either as abandoned projects or are in a shambles a sharp reminder of how the country has always treated its infrastructure.