By Ernest Osogbue

The federal government has backed up the recent statement by the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, that Nigeria was interested in hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games. The government pulled out all the stops to receive members of the Commonwealth Games evaluation committee, led by Darren Hall, which visited Nigeria recently. Since the visit, more information has emerged as to the Nigerian bid. We now know that Abuja, Nigeria, and Ahmedabad, in India, are the two host cities under consideration by the Commonwealth Games Federation, CGF. We now also know that the final announcement of the host city for the 2030 Commonwealth Games will be made in November 2025, less than two months away. One is wondering why the process is within such a short window.

It would, however, be wonderful for Nigeria to host the Commonwealth Games, especially with Abuja as host city. Branded as the center of unity, Abuja has grown from a largely conservative city in 1991 when it became Nigeria’s official capital to a vivacious and bubbling metropolis. Before now, Abuja was mostly a work environment, with residents often disappearing to neighboring towns and villages every weekend, only to return on Mondays for work. Today, however, people now have Abuja as their primary place of residence.

As someone who was involved in the failed Abuja bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, as a sports reporter with the Federal Radio Coporation of Nigeria FRCN at the time, I believe that I have valuable insights that could be beneficial to those championing this current bid.

The bidding process for the 2014 Commonwealth Games took place between August 2005 and November 2007. A period of over two years. In August 2005, Canada and Scotland conducted a micro bidding process in their countries. In Canada, Halifax, Ottawa, York Region, Hamilton, and Calgary indicated interest in hosting the Games. Halifax emerged victorious and was put forward by the Canadian government. In Scotland, only two cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, indicated interest in hosting the Games. Following a cost-benefit analysis by the government, however, Glasgow was chosen. In Nigeria, there was no micro bidding. Abuja had successfully hosted the All Africa Games in 2003, and so the Nigerian government simply put Abuja forward.

On February 24th, 2006, the official bidding process at the Commonwealth Games Federation, CGF, level began. With Abuja, Halifax, and Glasgow, officially signifying their intentions to the CGF. On the March 10th, 2006, each prospective host city was to pay a non-refundable £60,000 (sixty thousand pounds) candidature fee to the CGF to officially cement their bid. Two days before the payment, however, Halifax, the Canadian city, withdrew its candidacy, leaving Abuja and Glasgow to shoot it out. In May 2007, the formal bids were lodged with the CGF. Former military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, was chosen by the government to head the Abuja bid committee. In Scotland, the chairman of the Commonwealth Games Council of Scotland, Louise Martin, led the Scottish bid and was supported by the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond; the leader of the Glasgow City Council, Steven Purcell; and an athlete, Jamie Quarry.

A five man Commonwealth Games bid evaluation committee led by John Tierney visited Abuja from June 4th to June 7th, 2007. The same team visited Glasgow from June 10th to June 13th, 2007. This was outside several visits by the different Commonwealth Games Federations of Commonwealth member countries, as lobbying by the two cities was in full swing. Between June and July 2007, the bids of Abuja and Glasgow were reviewed, and on September 9th, 2007, the report of the Commonwealth Games evaluation committee was published.

The report stated as follows, on the Abuja bid, and I quote; “The Abuja bid committee submitted a candidate city file which has the substantial and broad backing of the Nigerian government. The evaluation committee submitted a number of issues to be clarified by Abuja, and while most of these matters were addressed, a number of matters remain of concern. Any decision to award the Games to Abuja must be conditional on these matters being addressed.” End of quote.

On Glasgow, however, the evaluation committee observed as follows, and I quote; “Glasgow submitted a complete and well researched Candidature File. Overall, proposals are grounded in a thoughtful and practical approach considering currently codified Commonwealth Games requirements. In particular, venue and legacy issues were appropriately addressed with sensitivity to Glasgow’s long-term needs….Glasgow has shown it has the ability to stage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to a standard which would continue to enhance the image and prestige of the Games.” End of quote. Those were the contrasting final report on Abuja and Glasgow by the Commonwealth Games evaluation committee. From the day of publication of the reports, candidate cities had a 30 day window, to fine-tune their bids, before the voting one month later.

On November 9th, 2007, therefore, the CGF General Assembly, with all 71 member associations present, gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for a vote to award the hosting rights to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Two days prior, Richard Asiegbu, my boss at FRCN at the time, had traveled with the Nigerian delegation as part of the Nigerian bid committee.

Richard Asiegbu narrated to me on his return from Sri Lanka, that Glasgow was the first to present its pitch to the delegates. The Glasgow bid committee presented a well researched documentary on the sights and sounds of Glasgow. It was interspersed with visuals of the different sports facilities and venues for the Games. To cap it off, the documentary was narrated and voiced over by the legendary 007 Sean Connery of James Bond fame. Outside of this, visuals of Scottish citizens following the events in Colombo live from Scotland at different viewing centers, while waving Scottish flags, were shown to the delegates. That was when Richard Asiegbu put a call to me to drive around Abuja and see if there was any viewing center where proceedings in Colombo were being followed. When I reported back to him that Abuja residents were not even aware of the events in Colombo, not to talk of having a viewing center, he was greatly disappointed. The Abuja bid committee had not produced a documentary and only made a verbal emotional presentation to the delegates. The long and short of the matter was that at the end of the two presentations, votes were cast by CGF members in a secret ballot. Abuja scored 24 votes, with Glasgow carrying the day with 47 votes.

The Abuja 2014 bid was anchored on two factors. One was that the city had just hosted the 2003 All Africa Games, with most of the facilities still in pristine condition. As a result, not much effort would be required to bring the city up to standards. Another basis for the Abuja bid was that the Commonwealth Games had never been hosted in Africa. On that sentimental ground of inclusivity, it would, therefore, be wonderful for the CGF to choose Abuja. Incidentally, however, this line of argument may no longer hold water, since Durban, South Africa, was awarded the right to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, before being stripped of those rights due to financial difficulties and an inability to meet the CGF standards. The CGF had a difficult last-minute scramble to convince Birmingham to host in 2022.

This demonstrates, that sentiments alone are not enough to host the Commonwealth Games. Of great importance to the CGF are; 1. adequate facilities. 2. political will of the government. 3. private sector financing, and 4. the passion of the people. Of the above four considerations, only one is currently available in Abuja; and that is number 2, the political will of the government. This was demonstrated when President Tinubu delegated his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to receive the CGF members on their recent visit to Abuja. On private sector financing, it is also possible for President Tinubu to mobilize the top private sector players in Nigeria to support the Abuja bid. That would leave the matter of facilities and the passion of the people as the main challenges to the bid.

In terms of facilities, the Commonwealth Games Federation is not only referring to sports facilities. This refers to a wide range of issues, from sports facilities to transportation systems, accommodation for athletes, hospitality facilities, technology facilities, infrastructure like power supply, adequate security, and many more. In this regard, Abuja is far from being prepared. As of today, the MKO Abiola National Stadium, with which Nigeria boasted in 2007, is a shadow of its former self. Most of the sporting facilities in the stadium are in a state of misuse and disrepair. It would require massive investments to bring them up to standards. In terms of accommodation for the athletes, the Games village used for the 2003 All Africa Games has been sold off. There is, therefore, no readily available standard athletes village. This means that a brand new Games village must be built from scratch.

On transportation, Abuja currently has no standard public transportation system. What mostly obtains, is a private sector driven kabukabu service operated by uncouth individual motor park touts, who utilize rickety unserviceable vehicles, with commuters being cramped into small spaces like sardines. Criminals sometimes take advantage of this highly unregulated system to harass and even attack commuters. The one-chance phenomenon that has resulted in the kidnapping and death of many residents is still prevalent. The train service which basically operates inter-city, rather than intra-city is still skeletal and does not cover substantial communities of the FCT. The federal government and the FCT administration must, therefore, design from scratch and build a completely new and standard public transportation system between now and 2030.

On technological infrastructure to enable the sending and receiving of messages by athletes, journalists, and members of delegations, Abuja is far behind. Currently, access to the internet is very low, with ordinary WhatsApp and text messages sometimes taking forever to deliver. The recent 2023 general elections brought this fact to reality. The electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, complained that glitches in the network, was responsible for the failure to deliver election results in real time. This demonstrates an example of poor technological infrastructure. Galaxy Backbone, the federal government designated ISP, is inadequate. Citizens mostly depend on telephone networks that offer substandard internet services at cutthroat prices for their data access. This situation may not completely satisfy the CGF.

On power supply, Nigeria currently produces a paltry 5000 megawatts of electricity. For context, the UK produces 338, 000, 000 (three hundred and thirty-eight million) megawatts, with China producing about 5.6 billion megawatts. It follows that power supply is inadequate in the entire Nigeria, with Abuja not being an exception. Power failure is a regular occurrence with blackouts a possibility. Businesses and homes often have to provide their own power supply with electricity generators. It would take years of massive investments to bring power supply to an acceptable standard in Abuja.

There’s more, but let’s leave facilities for a moment and come to the final point; the passion of the people. This is very critical to the CGF. According to them, it is the people who actually host the Games because they are the ones who receive the athletes in their homes, on the streets, and in different environments. It is the people who will interact with the athletes, welcome and befriend them. It is therefore important to the CGF that the citizens of the country and particularly residents of the host city be receptive to strangers. The traditional Nigerian hospitality is legendary, and so it could be taken for granted that athletes and officials from Commonwealth nations would be more than welcome in Abuja. Beyond this generalization, however, is the fact that it is currently difficult to gauge the reaction of Abuja residents on this matter. The prevailing economic hardship has deprived the average Nigerian of his usually ebullient nature. The possibility of the government deploying scarce resources to host the Commonwealth Games when citizens are groaning under the economic burden imposed by the fuel subsidy removal, may be too much for the people to accept. Nigerians are currently crying of hunger and at the diminishing purchasing power of the Naira, leading to hyper inflation. It is possible for them to become hostile rather than be friendly with strangers.

As I write, Nigeria has despatched a powerful delegation to London, led by the minister of culture and the creative economy, Hanatu Musawa, and the NSC chairman, Shehu Dikko, they are to formally present the Abuja bid and make a preliminary pitch on why the city should get the nod. From all indications, lessons were not learned from the failed 2014 bid. Rather than being driven by government officials and politicians, private sector players with proven records of accomplishments should be driving the process. The FCT minister, who is in charge of the bidding city, should also have been a necessary part of the team. Persons with knowledge of organizing global sports events, like the FIFA World Cup, even if they are non Nigerians should have been brought in. That is how to plan and give your bid a chance. The question is, if you can not plan a bid process correctly, how do you intend to organize the event successfully? All indications point to the Abuja bid being on a whim. Whims and sentiments would never win you the hosting right to global events. It is your preparedness that wins it. Cities take years to plan before they bid. It is not only about saying we can do it. Doing it comes with years of planning and preparation. Europeans are not usually impressed by political personalities. What impresses them is a track record of success.

It is clear that most of the issues that led to a failed bid in 2007 are still in place. In the final analysis, however, the Abuja bid sounds exciting, and it would be great if Abuja were to win. Indications, however, are that the bid seems premature. More efforts should have been put in the planning, or possibly the bid should have been delayed until the 2034 edition. This would have enabled the country and the FCT administration to adequately prepare Abuja. All in all, it would be a wonderful for Abuja to win the bid and host the Games. It is simply that the odds are stacked against the city. As we remain hopeful, however, it is important to thread with caution, and remain prayerful as usual. This is because it would require a miracle for the Abuja bid to succeed.