A legal practitioner and cycling enthusiast, Mr Iboroma Akpana has emphasised the importance of cycling as a grassroots sports programme that develops athletes and improves public health.
Akpana made this known on Sunday at a criterium held by PitStop Cycling Community, to celebrate his 60th birthday.
The Managing Partner of Solola and Akpana, a law firm, who charged governments at all levels to invest in cycling, noted that decent grassroots programmes are central to sporting achievements.
Akpana, (popularly known as elder) a member of the cycling community, who also serves on the board of Access Bank as an independent non-executive director, said, “Cycling as a sport is good for the health of the general population and it has a direct relevance with healthcare costs and productivity because if we’re all healthy, productivity increases. Also, in Nigeria, I think that the future of sports lies in the grassroots because cycling as a sport is a grassroots activity.
“As long as we do not turn it into an elitist sport and it is brought down to the grassroots, you can have more people involved in it. It is not any surprise that in Africa, Eritrea is the strongest country when it comes to cycling because they have a grassroots programme.
“We need to actually do the work in Nigeria to enable it to thrive. I think that we have adopted a model in Pitstop where the sport is built around the athletes. I think that in the meantime, we need to replicate more of this. There’s no reason why the Pitstop idea isn’t in 50 places in Nigeria – Ilesa and Jalingo among other places.”
“I am grateful that at 60, I am quite active. I engage in endurance sports – cycling, walking, running and swimming. In the last 30 years, I’ve been quite active. And now I’ve I feel that I’m about to actually get the benefits of that in this my senior years,” he added.
An associate of the celebrant and a member of the Pitstop Community, Temidayo Taylor, described him as a selfless person and man of character.
Taylor said: “He gives all he has and gives nothing to himself. The celebrant is also a mentor to many of us, myself and the Pitstop community where I belong. He has influenced a lot of things about my life – professionally, career-wise and all. He is just a wonderful person, a father figure and a generous person, having known him for about 20 years.”
Expressing joy, the winner of the criterium, Mr Innocent Emmanuel, however, called for caution as regards enabling politics in the sporting sector in Nigeria.
According to him, “There is so much politics in the Cycling Federation, but if it is jettisoned, Nigeria can go higher.”
Other winners included Bassey Okon, and Zakariyu Faruq, who came second and third respectively, among others.
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