•As Cycology Club unveils new jersey

By Juliet Umeh, edited by Sola Ogudipe

With millions of Nigerians going through so much stress as a result of economic hardship, the Cycology Cycling Club has called on the government to encourage sports especially cycling to enable a healthy lifestyle.

The call came when the Club unveiled its new jersey sponsors, a cycling activity held in Lagos tagged: “Sponsors Jersey Ride/Unveiling”.

The Captain of the Club, Temitope George, who appreciated all their sponsors like TECHNOGyM, Ilubirin, Power Oil, and Contec Global among others charged the government to take sports seriously while noting that cycling is great for cardiovascular health and fantastic for mental health.

 “We need to cycle two to three times weekly to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Although we don’t have the infrastructure for cycling, within what we have, we can cycle.

“It is important to cycle because it is great for cardiovascular health, it is fantastic for your mental health because with a lot of stresses and pressures that we face in Nigeria, you cannot be sad riding a bicycle. When you get on a bicycle you will be happy.”

According to Owolabi, “We know that there are dangers associated with cycling, so that’s why we are proud to have a sponsor like a security and safety solution company like G4S. It provides us with vehicles that accompany us when we ride. We take safety very seriously.”

On the collaboration with sponsors, George said: “Today, we are here to launch our sponsored jersey. It is important to us because our sponsors are critical to the success of Cycology Cycling.

“To ride every Saturday costs us a lot of money but our sponsors make that happen. Today is important because it gives us an opportunity through a branded jersey. We have  12 sponsors with our biggest sponsors being TECHNOGyM, Ilubirin, and Now Now among others,” she added.

An adviser to the Group Chairman, UBA, and also the sponsorship secretary for the Cycology Club, Mr. Anant-Rao said,  “We are collaborating with our sponsors to ensure that Cycology Club takes healthy living to the masses. We want every individual in this country to maintain a healthy life and they should use traditional means of transportation.

“Today, health is everything and every human being should be cycling to promote a healthy lifestyle.  We want a lot of advocacy, we want safety first, and roads should be safe for cyclists. “Every pedestrian and cyclist has a right to the road. So, we want the federal government to make changes to the laws to ensure that they create cycling lanes whereby people feel safe while cycling.

The Executive Director of Technogym, Mrs. Adetola Owolabi, stated: 

“It’s to everyone’s advantage that they start to move a little bit and it is not until you own equipment you can walk, there are even some apps that allow you to exercise by yourself, that’s a logical thing to do, to preserve your sanity and your state of mind to be able to function and whatever that we need to do.”

According to her,  “We are at the stage of development, people need to be able to work and be fit and well to do the one you need to. The government needs to start to encourage even in school. I’m hoping that the new administration made some attention to details and with a lot of support from the private sector to encourage fitness, then Nigeria will get where it needs to go,” Owolabi said.