Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, to Resume Hosting International Matches – NSC

The National Sports Commission Director-General, Mr. Gbenga Elegbeleye, has on Monday said that the Liberty Stadium (now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium) in Ibadan, Oyo State, would soon be hosting international matches again.

 

The NSC-DG, according to a reliable source, told neswsmen in Ibadan that this would be after the NSC gets through with the ongoing rehabilitation of the stadium’s main pitch.

He said the renovation work at the renowned first international stadium in Nigeria would complete latest early next year. “Before the end of this year or early next year, the Super Eagles, Super Falcons and other national teams will be playing their matches here.

 

“If the Eagles have been playing at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar, why not here at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium?” he said. Elegbeleye, who recalled that the stadium last hosted an international competition in 1999, when Nigeria hosted the World Youth Championship, promised that everything would be done to realise the goal.

 

On the National Stadium in Lagos, the NSC director-general said the facility was being privatised by government.

 

“I cannot speak of the National Stadium in Lagos. But, as for the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, NSC is taking it over and everything will be done to make it functional,” he said. Elegbeleye said other facilities at the stadium would be renovated generally to pave way for massive sports development.

 

“NSC is not focusing on football development alone, but other sports as well. For instance, the hostels, which are being renovated, will be used for the camping of para-powerlifters ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland,” he said.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stadium was built in 1959 as the Liberty Stadium under the defunct Western Region Government. The government was led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.