The rebirth of Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba Ibadan

Posted : 31 May 2023

Ibadan is reputably known as the biggest city in Nigeria and also second biggest city in Africa only behind Cairo in Egypt.

The city of Ibadan is also the most populous city and the capital of Oyo State, obviously the third largest city only behind Kano and Lagos with 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its metropolitan area.

The city was the seat of power during the regional government in the 60's and reputably have many first-hand development structures such as Cocoa House which was the first tallest high rise building in Africa, the city also harbours the first television station in Africa and of course the first ultra modern sporting centre, Liberty Stadium opened in 1960.

With the subsequent government recognising the use of sports as a means of getting the youths involved, they often make stadium availability a top priority in their agenda.

However, after the Liberty Stadium was completed and opened in 1960 to serve the entire Southwest region, then came the division of the Southwest Region to pave way for the birth of states, which as a result, Oyo State was created in 1976.

The then Military Administrator of Oyo State, Rtd Colonel David Jemibewon conceived the idea of having a state-owned sports centre that would complement the Liberty Stadium which was already stretched to capacity; besides, this, the then Federal government had re-allocated the Liberty Stadium from a Regional Facility to a National Facility leaving the largest and biggest city with no recognised state-owned sports centre.

To this end, the project state-owned stadium was launched in 1976, sited on 130,000 square meters of land, formerly occupied by Ibadan race course, but the completion did not happen until 1988 when it was named after its location, Adamasingba, which of course is an area in the heart of Ibadan close to the first tallest high rise building in Africa (Cocoa House) and a close proximity to the Central Business District (CBD) comprising of the busiest market in Nigeria, (Dugbe Market), the Government seat of power and many other public structures.

A significant day came on May 28, 1988 (Exactly 25 years ago) for the birth of a 10,000-seat capacity multi-purpose stadium called Adamasingba Stadium at a point when one of the traditional and arguably one of the most successful clubsides in Nigeria was on fire (Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan).

The club immediately switched ground to make Adamasingba its fortress and other local league sides.

Upon opening in 1988, Adamasingba Stadium had within its facility, a standard Swimming pool, a tennis court and a gymnasium, however, some of the facilities were not put to use, allowing parts of the facility to be infested with rodents, reptiles and more significantly, hoodlums who often used part of the stadium as hideouts for heinous crimes.

The stadium was in the past also sanctioned for falling below standard as a league venue for a professional club making the Shooting Stars to often shift their home matches to Liberty Stadium.

In 1999, immediately after Nigeria's return to democracy, Adamasingba Stadium was renovated and renamed Lekan Salami Sports Complex after a renowned football icon who was a prominent indigene of Ibadanland.

The stadium was given another facelift in 2013, alonside other facilities such as the gym and the basketball arena.

However, the rebirth of the Lekan Salami Sports centre to an international standard came with a new design and remodelling by the incumbent governor of Oyo State, Oluseyi Makinde who thought it wise that the artificial turf should be removed to make the stadium a full grass pitch with all covered seats.

The popular Lekan Salami Stadium, otherwise called Adamasingba Stadium, which is the official stadium of Shooting Stars football Club, now 3SC FC, during its glorious days provided unspeakable motivation for different athletes making use of the sporting facility to dominate national, international and continental sporting events.

The potential of the sporting complex has however not been optimally utilised due to rot and decay making most of its facilities moribund as a result of what many believe is a lack of maintenance culture by successive governments.

According to Gov. Oluseyi Makinde of Oyo State, the Lekan Salami Stadium Complex costs over N5bn because other facilities are built apart from the pitch and the all-covered seat of the main bowl which would have the stadium utilise its full potential and ward off incursion into its space.

The stadium after its remodelling was provided with a state-of-the-art VIP section, standard dressing room for players, referees and officials, a brand new scoreboard, a new digital lightning system, doping and ball boys rooms, modern restroom, a restaurant and bar, and to cap it all, the stadium boasts as one of the first to have a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) studio room.

Another unique thing about the stadium is the modern technology which the stadium now has as a precious asset, where there is an inbuilt studio that can monitor all the activities in the stadium.

The studio is powered by CCTV and controls flood lights which connect live with transmission equipment for TV stations, among others.

It also has the equipment to transmit live matches in other stadiums, meaning that spectators at Lekan Salami Stadium are able to watch matches going on in other stadiums simultaneously. It is able to show matches going on in as far as 100km away from the stadium arena.

Aside the renovation and redesigning of the main bowl of Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, a brand new multi-purpose composite structure for wrestling, boxing, kick-boxing, taekwondo hall etc. which is 50 metre by 30 metre in size is also built.

The multipurpose hall has features of all international gymnasiums, while the existing swimming pool is also being upgraded to Olympic standard.

Gov. Makinde commenting on the project described it as “another step in the right direction, positioning Oyo State to attract investments.”

This is the new rebirth Lekan Salami has witnessed that gave the facility an opportunity to host the Olympic Eagles qualifying match in which they outclassed the Junior Taifa Stars of Tanzania 2-0 in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations [U23] second leg qualifier, a result which sent Nigeria through to the final round 3-1 on aggregate.

On maintenance, Oyo State declared that the facility would be better managed through Public Private Partnerships which would allow for proper monitoring of its arena which would also generate revenue for the state.

The rebirth of Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba Ibadan

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