The Nigeria Football Federation last week agreed that the 30,000 capacity venue that hosted some matches during the 2009 Fifa U17 World Cup will stage the first Afcon qualifier for the Eagles against the Sao for a ticket to Gabon 2017.
According to Okunowo capped eight times by Nigeria, the country should have a permanent ground where they can demystify their opposition.
Until last year, the Super Eagles played their home matches at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar before they were uprooted to the new ultra-modern Akwa Ibom Stadium in Uyo after the Abuja National Stadium had been abandoned due to its state of disrepair.
The team will now use the Kaduna stadium for its first qualifier next month.
“From my own view, [regular changing of stadia] is not okay and I don’t understand what the technical crew of the Super Eagles and the Nigeria Football Federation put into consideration before arriving at that choice,” Okunowo told Goal.
“[Coach Stephen] Keshi should be the one to choose where he wants his men to play – well I’m not too sure if he was the one who chose [the Ahmadu Bello Stadium] or was carried along.
“Moving from one ground to the other is not good for us. At this stage, we need to have a national stadium where the Super Eagles will be playing all their home matches,” he added.
“The NFF and the technical crew must look into this and decide where the national team will be playing all their home games. We need to have a permanent home ground and that is how it is supposed to be.
“I won’t be able to pick any pitch for the Super Eagles be it National Stadium, Lagos or the Abuja National Stadium, all we need to do is pick a very good venue that will be suitable for our players to win matches. Mind you, it should be a natural [pitch] and not an artificial turf,” he concluded.
The Super Eagles will file out against Chad on June 13 as they begin their Afcon 2017 quest.
