Rainstorm Wreak Havoc at National Stadium in Lagos

Duro Ikhazuagbe

The rainstorm that swept through Lagos yesterday brought down one of the floodlight poles at the 51-year old National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

Eye witnesses at the National Stadium told THISDAY that there were no casualties from the crashing of the mighty floodlight pole.

A staff of one of the National Sports Associations dotting the Sportscity said that it was the grace of God that there were no human beings and cars parked near the site of the crashed pole.

“As the rain became heavy, we had to seek refuge in the Squash Association building. We were waiting for the rains to subside when suddenly we saw one of the floodlight pole crashing down. But thank God there was nobody near where the pole fell,” observed the staff who gave his name simply as Sunny.

The National Stadium in Lagos which has been in the news for the wrong reasons for weeks now used to be the pride of sports loving Nigerians. For years, the complex was abandoned to rot away.

It took the intervention of outgoing Sports Minister, Chief Sunday Dare to get billionaire sports betting company owner, Chief Kessington Adebutu, to adopt the main-bowl pitch for repairs.

Work has been going on there while efforts are also in the pipeline to get other corporate sponsors involved in adopting the terraces and other facilities to ensure the complex returns to shape to host sporting events once again.

Since Super Eagles left the facilities and have been wandering round the country, playing in different venues, the three-time African champions have lost their invisibility, losing matches to minnows like Central African Republic.

There were reports that the facility will need about N21billion to refurbish it. However, most sports stakeholders in the country have been advocating for the total demolition of the complex for a new, modern all-purpose stadium to be erected there.

Publisher of ACL Sports, Emeka Calvin Onwuka insisted that a total demolition of the stadium will solve the problems of the complex as no cosmetic renovation will work.

“Pull down the stadium. Do like Wembley, and build a new 60,000-capacity all-seater stadium,” observed the sports journalist based in the United Kingdom yesterday.