In 1972 when the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos was reopened, it was the cynosure of all eyes. It was a sparky new stadium and Yakubu Mabo of Mighty Jets of Jos, scored a goal for good measure that day to celebrate it. Our National Stadium in Surulere has become a home for sporting memories, amongst them is the African Nations Cup in year 2000.
It was another glorious day in the finals and the stadium was filled up. Cameroon took the lead and went ahead in the game, but the Super Eagles were ready to fight back. Austin Jay Jay Okocha volleyed an equalizer that made the game 2-2. We jubilated at the national stadium and the story ended with penalties. I will never forget Victor Ikpeba’s penalty kick.
I knew it was a goal, we had no VAR, but someone seated next to me asked why did he put his hands on his head? Other people on my seating row argued his reaction was wrong. Cameroon took the Cup back to Yaounde. I saw a little Samuel Eto’o Fils play that day. In this same stadium, the mathematical Segun Odegbami taught many defenders what a quadratic equation was and his dribbles left them drawing parallelograms. Muda Lawal would run miles and miles, people wondered what kind of lungs Muda had. All of this culminated in winning the Nations Cup in 1980 after the disappointment of Godwin Odiye in 1978 World Cup qualifier. In this same stadium Sam Okwaraji died.
This same museum of Nigeria’s sporting dream has become a dump site. I went to the main bowl of the National Stadium Surulere and I cried because human faecal splattering was what I saw. The National Stadium is left decaying and nothing has been done about it. It is sad that Nigeria doesn’t know how to maintain its infrastructure. I will like to ask what is the government doing about it? Is it possible to give it to private investors? What will it cost to rehabilitate? We must save the National Stadium and stop this nonchalant attitude about our national heritage. I look forward to the day when the Eagles will play at the National Stadium in Surulere again.
That is the home of Nigerian football. We need to save the stadium.
– Rufai Oseni, rufaioseni@gmail.com
