The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Limited, Engineer Lanre Adeleke, has urged Nigerian stadium developers and government agencies to make the playing pitch the top priority in sports infrastructure projects. He also commended the Lagos State Government for its sports infrastructure drive.
Adeleke spoke yesterday during a facility tour of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
He said Nigeria’s failure to secure international accreditation for many of its stadiums stems mainly from poor pitch quality rather than the quality of the stands.
‘I think the pitch must be given the ultimate attention now,’ Adeleke said. ‘Look across Nigeria. We have 20 or 30 grand stadiums with impressive stands. Yet, we fail to get international accreditation because of the quality of the pitch.’
He said Nigeria has misplaced its priorities in scoring stadium projects.
‘In school, if an exam has six questions and question number one is compulsory and worth half the total marks, you don’t spend all your time answering the optional ones but in Nigeria, we’ve been majoring in the minor,’ Adedeji explained as he likened the pitch to an airport runway.
He noted: ‘A traveller might admire a magnificent and shiny terminal of an airport. But an airline pilot doesn’t care about the terminal if the runway is undulating and unsafe for landing. An airport is judged by its runway and its control tower.
‘ In stadium construction, the pitch is our runway. It is the compulsory question. It is the icing on the cake. We must reverse our priorities. Give 50 per cent or 70 per cent of our weight to the pitch and let the rest like the floodlights, scoreboards and dressing rooms follow.’]
Meanwhile, Adeleke has praised the Lagos State Government for what he described as a forthcoming approach to sports development.
‘That is where Lagos State is setting a standard,’ he said. ‘The government has been remarkably forthcoming, and the Director General of the Lagos State Sports Commission(LSSC), Lekan Fatodu, is performing at an exceptional level.’
He said Lagos is constructing eight mini-stadia across the state: ‘Three are already at 100 per cent completion, and Ketu is right at the finish line. Ongoing work is pushing forward in Epe and Somolu, with projects moving ahead in Badagry and Orile as well.’
He said Lagos stands apart because its facilities include practice pitches. FIFA standards for major tournaments require a main stadium supported by at least four practice pitches, one for each team in a tournament group.
‘While other regions are still struggling to get a single practice pitch started, Lagos already has these practice pitches built into its infrastructure,’ Adeleke said. ‘And look at Agege Stadium. It stands alone as a fully completed, top-tier facility with its artificial turf 100 per cent ready to go. Whether you look at Gbagada, Ikorodu, Ketu, or Ifako, the vision is being realised.’
On the pitch at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Adeleke said the turf must undergo surface trenching, known technically as grooving, before it is ready for competitive football.
‘After planting this grass, there is what we call trenching,’ he explained. ‘Underneath where we stand, there are four hidden layers of drainage connecting to the perimeter drains. The fifth layer, the surface trenching, is what seals the deal. It takes a month of precision, but once done, the water drains flawlessly, and the pitch holds.’
Didier Pascal, a foreign consultant who was on site, said the work cannot begin until the dry season.
‘We cannot start the trenching just yet. It’s the wet season,’ Pascal said. ‘If we cut the trenches while the ground is soaked, the pitch levels will collapse. We must wait for the dry spell so we protect the integrity of the surface.’
Adeleke said the process drew criticism during the Warri City Stadium project.
‘When we did it in Warri, we had some misconceptions. Bloggers started writing that we planted grass only to dig it right back up. But we had to show them: this surface trenching is the vital final phase before a pitch is ready for true football,’ he added.