We’ll make Nigeria Roller Skating Federation envy of other sports, says Comrade Evah

Comrade Joseph Evah was known for his loud voice in the fight for resource control in the heat of the struggle in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. But the coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG) and Publicity Secretary, Ijaw National Congress (INC), has decided to add his voice to the nation’s sports, with the Nigeria Roller Skating Federation as his port of call.

At his inauguration ceremony as President of the Roller Skating Federation in Lagos, Comrade Evah said his target is to make the sport as popular as football, athletics, boxing and tennis in the country.

He told The Guardian shortly after the ceremony, which was performed by Secretary General of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Tunde Popoola, at the National Stadium, Lagos that he was excited to see a ‘united’ Roller Skating Federation family, just as he pledged that they will reposition the game, which is an Olympic sport.

Evah tasked all stakeholders to work towards uplifting the sport, just as he enjoined the athletes to see themselves as part of the nation’s builders. He also called on well meaning Nigerians and corporate organisations to join hands with the Roller Skating Federation to take the sport to great height, saying: “Government alone cannot do it as far as sports is concerned in Nigeria.”

Evah disclosed that a task force would be set up to monitor rollers, who have formed the habit of ‘hanging’ on moving vehicles along expressways in the country.

Meawhile, NOC scribe, Popoola, has charged the new executive members of Nigeria Roller Skating Federation to map out strategies that will sustain peace in the federation and make it one of the best sporting bodies in the country.

Other members of the Roller Skating Federation are David Onyekachukwu, First Vice President, Effiong Nyong, Second Vice President, Awole Helen Iloh, Secretary General and Philip Oyede, Assistant Secretary General.