Moshood Abiola National Stadium (formerly known as National Stadium, Abuja) is a multipurpose national sports stadium located in Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. The stadium serves as a home to the Nigerian national football team, as well as a center for various social, cultural, and religious events. The Federal Government of Nigeria approved the contract for the construction of the National Stadium complex and Games Village on 18 July 2000. The stadium was constructed to host the 8th All Africa Games which took place in October 2003. On 12 June 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari announced the change of the name of the National Stadium, Abuja to Moshood Abiola National Stadium in honour of former Nigerian politician chief M.K.O Abiola. President Buhari made this pronouncement during his speech at the Democracy Day celebration on Wednesday at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Construction and Architecture
Moshood Abiola National Stadium is one of the 5000 most expensive stadiums ever built in the world.
Structure
Moshood Abiola National Stadium main bowl is designed to accommodate 60,491 spectator seats covered by a lightweight roof construction. The main characteristics are the two overlapping spectator tiers; the lower tier accommodating 32,000 seats and the upper tier 28,000 seats. The lower tier also incorporates 56 corporate suites with viewing terraces and one presidential lounge for 50 guests. All functional and secondary areas are accommodated in the entrance building which provides a gross floor area of approximately 25,000 m2. This building is arranged below the concourse level which serves as the spectators‘ distribution level and therefore provides several kiosks, banks, first aid stations and toilet buildings. The structure of the stadium is a combination of in situ and precast concrete elements. There are 36 towers supporting the upper tier and the roof structure. These towers are founded on 140 bored piles with diameters of 1.30 m and 1.50 m in a depth of 8.00 m to 30.00 m. Precast concrete elements varying between 13 and 15 meters in length are placed between the towers, forming the spectator stands. A total of 6,300 precast elements were produced in the company's production yard 15 kilometers away. The towers are connected on the top by a 2.50 m high and 2.00 m wide hollow concrete ring beam with a wall thickness of 0.35 m. The roof structure is fixed on 36 massive concrete points to the ring-beam. For the first time in the world, the ringbeam for this kind of roof structure was made of concrete. The roof structure itself is a cable construction with a weight of 800 tons carrying a 28.000 m2 membrane.
Facilities
All facilities within the stadium are designed and engineered in compliance with the requirements of international sport associations, particularly the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The complex includes: 60,491 capacity covered main bowl A Velodrome Presidential suite and viewing area 56 corporate suites Post offices Banks Media facilities Two scoreboards and floodlights Shops and kiosks for snacks Helipad 3000 capacity indoor sports hall 2000 capacity gymnasi* 2000 capacity swimming pool Tennis Courts 3000 capacity hockey stadium Baseball and softball complex
Moshood Abiola National Stadium meets the requirements of the International safety standards; it is equipped with emergency service units, closed circuit security cameras as well as crowd control steel fencing. There are also stand-by fire fighting equipment and metal detectors which have been put in place to avoid any misfortunes.
History of the Stadium
Although Nigeria had several stadiums scattered throughout the country, there was a lack of stadiums that met international standards. The capital city of Nigeria, Abuja, was selected to host the 8th All Africa Games in 2000 (a regional multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa) despite having no facilities for such a major sporting event. The Federal Government of Nigeria embarked on a multimillion-dollar project for the construction of a state-of-the-art stadium and games village to be completed in time to host the All Africa Games. The contract was awarded on 18 July 2000 from a choice list of about 80 different bidders. Construction of the complex was initiated.