THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The Nigerian man who set out in London on 19 April for a road trip to Lagos arrived in Nigeria to a rousing welcome on Sunday.
Kunle Adeyanju, also known as ‘The Lion Heart’, travelled from London to Lagos on a motorcycle to campaign against Polio and raise awareness of the disease.
“It’s been a heck of a ride. It’s been loaded with experience and pain, lots of pain but also lots of beautiful moments. That’s what life is. It’s a combination of both. It’s been a wonderful experience,” Adeyanju said in an interview with the Punch, a Lagos-based newspaper.
“For me, it’s all about giving back. It’s all about using my skills and lifestyle to touch the lives of the underprivileged,” he said of his motivation for the adventurous trip.
“As a boy, when I was growing up, we used to play football and swim. But a friend of mine couldn’t join us. Not because he didn’t want to but because he couldn’t do it as he was limited by the polio disease. I knew what he went through before he finally passed on. So, I promised myself that I must do everything possible to ensure that another person doesn’t go through what my friend went through,” he said on why he focused on polio.
The journey took the humanitarian biker from London to France and to Spain, then he crossed the Mediterranen to Morocco and visited Casablanca. He also passed through Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin before getting to Lagos.
The biker began the ride on Tuesday, April 19, and shared daily updates about his journey on micro-blogging site, Twitter, whose CEO, Parag Agrawal, has commended Adeyanju, for using his journey to campaign against Polio.
Adeyanju has garnered over 100 thousand followers on Twitter who followed his expedition as he shared daily updates.
The adventurer, entrepreneur and author hopes to use the visibility of his trip to draw attention to polio in Africa and encourage more international collaboration to eradicate the disease in the continent.
Kola Tella
