The agonizing abandonment of Nigeria's most prized sports asset, Liberty Stadium Ibadan

Posted : 30 August 2023

Perhaps the sports edifice located in the heart of Ibadan is one of the best thing to have happened to the sports world in Nigeria, Liberty Stadium as the name was given at inception is a spectable to behold in the 1960's.

The 25,000 sitter Liberty Stadium Stadium was built by the former Premier of Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo to commemorate Nigeria's independence in 1960.

The stadium which was opened in 1960 had a glamorous status under with the supervision of the late sage who opted for a direct labour construction under the supervision of the regional Ministry of Works and Transport to cut cost, yet deliver one of the best sporting facility in Africa as at the time it was opened.

The reason for citing Liberty Stadium in Ibadan is not far fetched, Ibadan as at then during the pre-colonial era was the capital of the Western Region.

The complex was one of the several infrastructure and institutions that the Chief Obafemi Awolowo government established and programmed to take the region, and by extension Nigeria and the Black race to the pinnacle of global emancipation and development.

Ibadan envisaged by then the father of modern Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo would in no time ranked alongside beautiful cities like, London, New York as centre of attractions. So in lieu of this, Ibadan was lucky to be a pacesetter city not just in Nigeria, but all over the entire Africa that has the opportunity of modern structures dotted the street.

The first television station, called Western Nigerian Government Broadcasting Corporation (WNTV) which began broadcasting on 31 October 1959 was cited in Ibadan.

The station day marked the first broadcast of Nigerian television which significantly, was also the first broadcast of Tropical African television.

The first TV station in Nigeria which was located in Ibadan, had its first chairperson station was Olapade Obisesan.

Aside the television station, Ibadan also boast or rather prides itself as the first city to host Cocoa House, the tallest building in Nigeria which was completed in July 1964 and commissioned in July 1965. At a height of 105 metres, it was the first skyscraper in West Africa. and was, from 1965 to 1979, the tallest building in Nigeria with 26 floors and 105 m (344 ft) tall.

Such are the rich history of modernity Ibadan known as the pacesetter city was known for in those days.

So, having the Liberty Stadium built in Ibadan speaks volumes of the type of modern structures the ancient city adorn itself with.

For Liberty Stadium (now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium) Ibadan, the location was at the Southern end of Ibadan near the summit of a hill, and located close to a bypass that leads to the Ibadan-Abeokuta and Ibadan-Lagos roads.

Liberty Stadium was a great showpiece because its architecture was unique. Some of its facilities were world-class and it was a local tourist attraction for visitors because its sports facilities engaged the teeming youths from schools and sports clubs, and produced national champions in many sports in the southwest cities.

Liberty Stadium Ibadan is the first to have its dressing room for both home and away teams in an underground tunnel. Infact it was then a spectacular sight to watch as the teams lined up, filing out of the underground tunnel to the field of play, aside this, the pitch itself is one of the best ever in Africa, laid with lush green grasses.

Apart from the main bowl, which is an architectural masterpiece, Liberty Stadium has three football pitches with floodlights and at inception, the complex also boasted the indoor sports hall for boxing, courts for tennis, volleyball, handball, basketball, hockey, etc.

Something worthy of note is that Liberty Stadium, Ibadan is the first stadium in the sub Saharan Africa to have all the sports courts and hall domiciled on same ground.

Liberty Stadium is blessed with the first hockey pitch in Nigeria, first basketball court in Nigeria, first squash court in Nigeria, first tennis court in Nigeria and to cap it all, the first Olympics-size swimming in West Saharan Africa (till date, Liberty Stadium Olympics size swimming pool is one of the best in Nigeria).

Being one of the biggest and best sports centre in those days, Liberty Stadium was able to attract high profile and monumental competition to itself.

And from the early 1960s, through the 70s and late 80s the Liberty Stadium was ‘alive,’ fulfilling Awolowo’s objectives as centre of sports engagement, activity and development in West Africa’s largest city, Ibadan.

It was a dream for most athletes in those days to have a date at the Liberty stadium because the complex was so good that even players from different parts of Africa wanted to visit it.

One great thing about the Liberty Stadium then was it serves as home for all, as any visiting team could beat the home team and you could also be beaten at home because the pitch was good for everyone to play football

One of the major sporting event that was staged in Liberty Stadium Ibadan, happened in Aug. 10, 1963, when the stadium hosted the first ever boxing world title fight in Africa.

The match was initially slated for July 13, 1963, was for the Middleweight Championship of the World belt and was fought between Nigeria's own Dick Tiger and Gene Fullmer of the US.

That fight between Dick Tiger and Gene Fullmer in 1963 was one of the ways Awolowo used in showcasing Western Nigeria’s emergence as an authentic technological, social, cultural and economic regional power to the rest of the world.

The fight between Dick Tiger and Gene Fullmer was transmitted to the whole world from the stadium through Africa’s first Television Station established also in Ibadan, a rare feat in those days when several European countries were themselves new to television.

The boxing ``Hall of Fame'' fight eventually saw Nigeria’s Dick Tiger beating America’s Gene Fullmer to win the world middleweight boxing title.

Ibadan was lucky to have welcomed and host the whole army of agents, managers, the media and the world’s boxing travelling fans who, in their hundreds, followed the train of the best boxing fights around the world.

For months before and after that fight Western Nigeria was the focus of the world’s major media. It was unprecedented advertisement for one of the fastest and most ambitious developing regions in the whole of West Africa. Surely, the region was on a trajectory that would have made it a global superpower within a few decades were it to have sustained that momentum.

Former Green Eagles captain, ‘Mathematical’ Segun Odegbami, played his first international match inside Liberty stadium in 1973 against Central African Republic in preparation for the All Africa Games. The match was played under floodlights.

Down to 1980, Liberty stadium hosted several matches during the African Cup of Nations, including a semi-final between Algeria and Egypt after which the stadium was also one of the centres for the FIFA World Youth Championship hosted by Nigeria in 1999.

Liberty Stadium was selected along with eight other stadiums in Nigeria to host the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship.

The stadium hosted all of the Group C matches, one of the Round of 16 matches, and one of the quarter-final matches.

On November 12, 2010, the stadium was renamed as the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium.

The renaming of the stadium was announced by the then Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, when he visited Chief Obafemi Awolowo's widow, Chief (Mrs.) Hannah Awolowo at Ikenne.

Years down the line, Obafemi Awolowo Stadium is now an eye sore, infact the state of the former pride of Africa is nothing short of an abandoned war ground.

The ceilings of the stadium has fallen off, the tartan track removed, the pitch itself looks like an unkept grazing field while the conveniences have become homes to the reptiles and dangerous animals.

After 1999, the stadium hardly attracted any match, as it was almost a forgotten sports centre.

Since it is a government-owned structure, it will be hard for any private investment except with full approval from the ministry of sports.

Just like many sectors of the nation’s economy, the Liberty Stadium, which stood then as a pride of Africa, has since become an eyesore, with reptiles of various shapes now occupying the edifice.

The Liberty Stadium complex, is now in dire need of Federal Government’s intervention as quickly as possible.From the main bowl pitch, the tartan track are in need of urgent intervention.

One of the staff in charge of facility, Mr Gbenga Omoniyi, told Africa Sport Network (ASN) that for the stadium to regain it lost glory, the whole sports ministry should be separated from and sister mininstry.

``Liberty Stadium needs urgent intervention, we cannot continue like this, to build another stadium of this magnitude will cost nothing less than billions of dollars, so why waste the stadium away, when it can be refurbished,'' he advised.

The agonizing abandonment of Nigeria's most prized sports asset, Liberty Stadium Ibadan

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