L-R: Founder, Lost For A Reason USA, Mr. Ron Grace; Founder, Out of Nigeria, Mr. Toyin Adebola and Founder, Eleko Motor Race, Mr. Dele ‘Bami’ BAMIDELE, at the media roundtable to announce the 2016 Independence Day on and off-road motorcycle adventure in Lagos

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

An authentic Nigerian adventure dream will herald the nation’s 56th Independence Day celebrations on Saturday, after Out of Nigeria (OON), an adventure and social good organisation, formally flags off its historic two-in-one Heroes and Helmets project in Lagos.

Speaking at a media roundtable on Friday, to kick-start the project, the Founder, Out of Nigeria and an accomplished adventurer, Mr. Toyin Adebola, announced an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the “Most self-portraits (selfies) taken in 24 hours.”

The selfies world record-setting attempt was conceived to celebrate men and women of the armed forces who daily risked their lives to keep citizens safe particularly at challenging periods of the nation’s history.

“We are challenging all Nigerians wherever they may be in the world to show their support for the armed forces by taking selfies with any serving member of the armed forces and uploading them within 24 hours on key social media platforms on October 1, 2016 only using the hashtag #heroesandhelmets,” Adebola said, stressing, “Our target is to secure about 20,000 selfies to establish the record in the Guinness Book of World Records.”

The second leg of the Heroes and Helmets celebration of Nigeria at 56 will involve an off-road motorcycle riding adventure by the Out of Nigeria team to explore the wild and wonderful areas across Lagos State.

Adebola, who has covered over 50,000 kilometres on his motorcycle in the course of his adventures, will be joined on the ride by Dele “Bami” Bamidele, the founder of Eleko Motor Race and Ron Grace, a bonafide off-road enthusiast and the founder of Lost For A Reason, a charity that supports native Indians in the United States of America.

The off-road motorcycle adventure will kick off in the morning of Saturday, October 1 at the Lagoon Restaurant in Victoria Island, Lagos through to Takwa Bay to Badagry to Ikeja to Ikorodu and Epe, from where the bikers will return to the starting point in Victoria Island.

The American cyclist, Ron Grace, said: “It feels great to be in Nigeria, particularly during the Independence Day celebrations. Having a great ride in Lagos has occupied my mind, even at work, in the USA in the last two weeks. Now I am here to have fun and support a great initiative in honour of our brothers and sisters in uniform.”

Adebola explained that the Out of Nigeria motorcycle adventure was anchored on patriotism, inspiration and education (PIE), saying: “Our ultimate goal in the adventure aspect of the Heroes and Helmets project is to inspire young people to go outside their comfort zones to live for causes bigger than them,” adding, “We chose Lagos State to show people things they did not know exist in their country; besides, Lagos has been my home for the past 24 years.”

Continuing, he said: “We are doing the Heroes and Helmets project to show we are patriotic to Nigeria. If we are not, no one will come to build this country for us. If we do not celebrate the armed forces, who will celebrate them for us? We are riding for a purpose and we are dedicating that purpose to our armed forces because we see what they do and the sacrifices they are making. We are saying: Thank You.”