Determined to provide a world-class playground for Edo youths to hone their sporting talent, Governor Godwin Obaseki has successfully revamped the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.
The 20-seater capacity facility is the home stadium of Bendel Insurance and Edo Queens football clubs, and has been certified by several local and international sporting bodies for local and international sporting events.
According to the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, the reconstructed Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, is “a world class edifice.”
Here are other features of the multipurpose stadium:
- A covered sporting arena with FIFA approved natural turf for international soccer tournaments and refitted running tracks.
- Connected to the Ossiomo power project to supply regular electricity for night matches.
- Refurbished tennis and squash courts, a new Olympic size swimming pool and indoor suspended gymnasium, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria.
- Has world class facilities for weightlifting, wrestling and other combat sports.
- The Stadium has also been outfitted with new high-capacity electronic score screens, floodlights and Video Assistant Referee technology.
It has hosted several local and international sporting events such as the National Sports Festival, 2020; the Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament, 2021; Super Eagles of Nigeria Vs. The Leone Stars of Sierra Leone qualifying match for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Nov. 13, 2020, amongst others.
These events have at various times attracted thousands of spectators, local and international sports officials, sports journalists and soccer enthusiasts to the stadium.
The human traffic to Benin City for these sports fiestas have continued to boost socio-economic activities as food and soft drink vendors, hotel operators, transporters and hawkers of memorabilia record an upsurge in their businesses.
The sports arena has been replaced with modern seats and modernized offices.
The State Box has been expanded to accommodate more VIPs, and has a specially-built press gallery, modern dressing rooms as well as better lighting system and a scoreboard at the main bowl.
With these world-class sports facilities, the Obaseki-led administration has given thousands of young Edo people who are aspiring to become world soccer stars and attain similar height in other sports, the much needed training ground to make their dreams come true.
The next time we rank Nigerian States using data that speak to consistent investment in human development, particularly sports, Edo State will clearly stand out with the towering Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, a major addition to the infrastructure bucket of the State Government.
