By Musa Jibril

On that fateful day, we had rendezvoused somewhere at Ilasa, my friend and I, Sam Anokam. We needed to have a long discussion in a conducive atmosphere. Where could we go? Surulere was nearby.

“Let’s go to Stadium,” he suggested. And to the National Stadium, we headed. For Sam, the stadium hangout is a favourite haunt. He regaled me with details of his chance encounter with Cossy a few weeks’ earlier. We were joined by another friend and the evening wrapped up slowly, with great conversation, good food and drinks. I had one of the best evenings in months. The night was still young when I took my leave at 8 pm. At that time, the night was just starting for the regular visitors, as cars, sleek and deluxe, rolled into the bowel of the National Stadium, which unarguably, the best evening timeout on Mainland Lagos.

First, a bit of history. The National Stadium, off Alhaji Masha Road, Surulere, built in 1972, had seen better days. Its years of glory included its usage as the main venue for the 1973 All Africa Games, 1980 African Cup of Nations final and the 2000 African Cup of Nations final. The stadium, which comprised of an Olympic-size swimming arena and a multi-purpose arena used for basketball, volleyball, table tennis, wrestling and boxing matches, however, has gone the way of anything Nigerian––abandoned, neglected, appropriated for other use.

The sad truth: The National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos has since lost its place as a sports centre. The why or how is a story for another day.

The other side of the story: it is flourishing as a social centre. It is presently a beehive of flourishing businesses that majored in the food and drinks leisure. The resulting commerce led to a boom in the Stadium Nightlife that earned it recognition as one of Lagos’ most popular leisure spots.

One of the operators of the stadium leisure spots told Timeout: “Look, the stadium has transited from sports to social hub. So, everyone here knows that little of sport goes on here, but more of leisure. If you are after an exciting evening, you can come over to the Stadium, even on the spur of the moment, and still have yourself a great experience.”

Generally, the Surulere vicinity where it is located is home to a lot of leisure outlets, restaurants and bars, but the Stadium had over the years gradually appropriated the reputation.

Joe an insurance executive boasts: “If you are talking of where to have the best delicious and palatable pepper soup in Surulere, you have to come to the Stadium o.”

The good-time culture is firmly entrenched at the National Stadium. Once dusk descends, the stadium transforms. From 6 pm, the day is reborn, as exotic cars make their way into the bowel of the sports arena, their occupants, usually coming straight from their place of work, head straight to various restaurants, bars and relaxation within the perimeter.  In a matter of hours, parking spaces are filled up. And music booms from some of these hangouts.

You don’t need a brochure to have a field day. Though there are many outlets, with many others set to join soon, you can start your night from Old Skool, located inside the boxing arena, or O’Jez, around the main bowl, or the NIS Co-operative restaurant, close to the swimming pool.

O’Jez is the centre of the hub at nighttime. A local hangout spot, some would say. Celebrity hangout is its more popular appellation. That has been its byname since the heyday of Nollywood. O’Jez still lives up to the billings. Loiter around the place for a few hours and you are likely to run into familiar faces from Nollywood and popular TV.

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There is more to O’jez, however. Uche Arinze owns a thriving electronic shop in Ojuelegba; he sleeps in his home in Isolo and spends his evening at O’Jez five times a week. He said: “It is a great place to hang out with friends. Here, you can enjoy the cool weather at nights, unwind after a long day and gist about stuff.”

Stanley ‘Bigman’ Buchi came for the food. “I am a bachelor. I work in a bank. You can imagine how my days are spent. After a hard day’s job, I come here and eat whatever my heart desire, asun, fish, pepper soup, continental dishes or Chinese.”

In a way, O’jez, existing now for almost two decades inside the National Stadium, is like an extension of Nollywood.  It is the natural venue for Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN events. There is also Old Skool Generation Spot, an indoor-outdoor bar that opens 24/7. It comes alive in the night time, crowded with people from all walks of life, most coming straight from work, to chill, to savour delicious Igbo dishes and catfish pepper soup.

Last weekend, I was there. I ate fish and chips, with old school jams––the real blues of the 80s––playing in the background. We were greeted by the sight of catfish on the grill when we walked in at 8 pm. Our order arrived on our table some 35 minutes later. While we waited, we ordered drinks––water (Eva), beer (Goldberg) and spirit (Smirnoff).

The catfish and chips was a finger-licking treat––fish well grilled, with just the right amount of pepper; chips properly fried, not too dry, and made from potatoes that are not the refrigerated variety that had lost good taste in cold storage.

So, is it all about driving down to the National Stadium to eat good food? Absolutely, no. There is more to it. There is a story I read a long time ago from a collection of short stories titled The Newcomer and Other Stories. My favourite was a story from East Africa. It is about a troublesome man openly disliked by his rich neighbor, but yet decides to attend the rich man’s ball uninvited. He goes to the banquet with his food, sits a distance from the table loaded with sumptuous meals upon which the guest are gorging. He claims he is eating his food with the rich aroma and the lighthearted atmosphere of the great banquet. But, the rich man insists he must pay him for the atmosphere and the aroma, arguing it is not all about the food alone. That is what the Stadium hangouts provide. The atmosphere. The food is good, no doubt, but the ambience––the gaiety, the electricity that comes with it––is the main draw that brings many to the bowel of the National Stadium every evening. Sports stars, Nollywood celebrities, music stars, politicians, socialite, some with entourage and retinue of hangers-on, others incognito, they all come around in their natural self, without airs,

The second side of the stadium, namely the daytime activity, will appeal to you if you are a fitness freak. Athletes and those seeking to keep fit use the various facilities left inside the complex for their exercise routine. As early as 6 am, the stadium kicks to life as real athletes and wannabes arrive to embark on different trainings activities. Some train inside the rusty main bowl. Others use the gym at the National Institute for Sport building. Basketballers and table tennis players train inside the indoor complexes.

Comfort Ogbechie asserted to Timeout: “I train here thrice a week. I drive down as early as 5:30 and workout till 8. I am working on my weight and staying fit generally in the past seven months and I found the atmosphere here very helpful physically and psychologically than the enclosure of a gym where I had started some three years ago.”

This daytime activity is a reminder of the original purpose of the complex. Here and there are sports shops where sports kits and equipment are easily available.

Yet others go to the stadium just to watch the big matches on the weekend, when EPL, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga are the major sporting attractions. During the recently concluded AFCON, there were no better viewing centres than those at the Stadium. The stadium environment exerts feel-good alchemy on football fans.

A banker, Tolu Ajeromi, claims the stadium was his sanctuary after a hard day’s work. “It was a friend who recommended this place to me for relaxation. On weekends and sometimes after work during the week, I come here to have some drinks and relax. But recently, I have become addicted to watching matches on the huge screen inside the Old Skool restaurant.”

A Timeout reconnoitre found the bars teeming with customers watching the pre-season matches. On the side, they were busy with their drinks, pepper soup or barbeques. The nightlife inside the stadium bubbles till midnight when activities gradually wind down. A few of the visitors stay beyond midnight, before finding their way home.