Pray 4 Us is a skate edit, centering Fahd Bello & Kagiso Leburu and their journey to going pro.
In partnership with Freedom Park, we are delighted to announce the development of WAF Skate Park, the first of its kind in Nigeria. We see this partnership as an excellent opportunity for cultural and cross-generational exchange that will actively provide opportunities for youth development, while purposefully increasing social cohesion within the city in the long run
Born in 2012 out of a desire to nurture the budding skateboarding culture in Lagos, we consider this initiative the next step in strengthening our community of skateboarders and BMXers, as well as empowering local youth. Judging by the exciting increase in board sales, our community is growing and in need of a safe and dedicated space. The park, which will be of international standard, and designed and built by Studio Contra and wheretofromhere, is set to be located on the portion of Freedom park that used to be prisoners’ bathing quarters.
Freedom Park, formerly Her Majesty’s Broad Street in the 1880s, is a heritage site in Lagos with a rich colonial history. After its first construction, opponents of British colonialism attempted to destroy it multiple times in protest of the inhumane government. It was rebuilt and functioned as a prison until its demolition in 1979, decades after which its cultural heritage was claimed back through its conversion to an accessible park and creative centre in 2010. Now a vibrant hub for creativity and promotion of the Nigerian cultural heritage since its founding, Freedom Park is looking forward to sharing its space with a wider and more diverse demographic. Both our communities share the philosophy that all activities should be accessible to everyone, irrespective of socioeconomic background, and are keen to foster this accessibility through our partnership.
WAF Park will have a series of diverse programmes consisting of workshops, competitions, skate and BMX camps, skateboarding lessons, film screenings, seminars, extreme sports exhibitions, art exhibitions, DIY projects and so much more. There will also be a Clubhouse Café serving refreshments; a shop that stocks our merch as well as products from our family and friends within our local and global community. We also look forward to hosting our friends from other African nations and the wider global community during festivals. The park will serve as a community centre that both unites skateboarders in Lagos, promotes our interests and drives sustainable development at a local level.
WAF Park is supported by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN). We are open to partnerships with brands and people that are interested in seeing this through with us, so please get in touch with our management if you would love to be a part of our next chapter. WAF Park is in development and is expected to launch 2022. We hope you are as excited as we are!
Continue reading
Stand a chance to win a pair of Adidas shoes every time you shop at our store.
- Purchases made at the store awards you a raffle ticket that lets you participate in the raffle draw.
- Winners will be announced biweekly.
- Raffles Tickets will be sold at the shop for N1000.
King of covers, Ghariokwu Lemi, is a self-taught fine artist, graphic designer and illustrator. He has designed over 2,000 album covers but started this journey when journalist, Babatunde Harrison entered a pub, was in awe of one of his posters on the wall and requested to meet him. Harrison then introduced him to Fela Kuti and thus his album cover journey started. He designed logos for Fame Weekly, Ivory Music and National Encomium.
Born December 1955, The Delta native has lived all his life in Lagos, Nigeria where he attended Yaba College of Technology Secondary School. He is best known for his with work legendary acts such as Bob Marley, Osita Osadebe, Lucky Dube, Kris Okotie, Tony Tetuila, Sound Sultan and more.
In the last two decades, Lemi’s work has features in about 19 exhibitions all over the world which includes a group exhibition titled Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti showcased in New York in 2003, his 2008 solo exhibition in Lagos called Lagos: Paradigm Shift and more recently the Afro Art Beat Exhibition in partnership with Temple Management, here in Lagos. His career spans over four decades not just because of his undeniable talent but also his drive to continually research and follow trends within his field.
“I overstand (understand) that to move forward and remain relevant, you must constantly evolve.“
Inspired by his legacy and works, waf. will release a collaboration featuring Lemi Ghariokwu’s artworks and album covers on Tee Shirts as well as an interactive session with the Legend himself on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
Continue reading
On the 19th of May, our brother and friend, Bai Joiner passed away. Over the years, Bai helped and guided our vision. He was an integral part of our community behind the scenes.
He was a multifaceted artist. He handled all our editorials in our earlier days. He was a DJ, writer and all round genius.
We thank you. We love you. We miss you.
- Jomi Bello
Continue reading
As Nigeria’s foremost skate brand established in 2012, it was with upmost gratitude that we marked our 10th anniversary on April 3rd. It’s been an amazing journey filled with surreal opportunities and culture defining milestones.
Over the past decade, we’ve been opportuned to collaborate with brands such as Alara, Oscar Deen, Homecoming, Nolly Babes, Patta, Engineering Sports, renowned Nigerian artist, Jimi Solanke and more.
Over the years, we have spearheaded the growth of the skate culture in Nigeria by supporting young people who have the interest and talent for the sport. waf. as a skateboarding community, organized the first ever Go Skate Day — which is June 21st (a day dedicated to celebrating the sport across communities around the world) — in Nigeria in 2017 and has since then become an annual event that has only gotten better each year. The 2021 edition was its biggest as it spanned 10-days leading to the actual day. It included crews from all over Africa, a series of exciting events and a skateboarding contest with a grand prize.
In a bid to continuously encourage and grow the skate community, we decided to support the female skateboarders here. Inspired by Blessing Ewona, the first notable female Nigerian skateboarder and founder of all female skate crew, Dencity, we released the Ble-Ble Magazine. This project aimed at fostering inclusivity within the sport and empowering other female skaters.
A major highlight in this decade-long journey was facilitating the of Henry Okwubuasi into being a professional skateboarder. Henry’s amazing work ethic and undeniable talent has since become a major inspiration to the youth beyond Lagos borders, hence why he had our full support and appreciation. In celebration of him being the first black Pro Skater in Nigeria, a skate video titled ‘GLORY’ was made to highlight his journey and wins in the community.
We have consistently hosted quarterly skate jams that encourage healthy competition and promote skate culture in Nigeria. Our VIBES platform, which usually goes hand in hand with our skate jams, is a series that was launched to showcase the best DJs and musicians within the scene, promoting Lagos’ underground scene — a congregate of Nigerian youths of different backgrounds that have helped nurture this subculture.
As there is no designated space for skating in Lagos, we are super excited to announce our Partnership with Freedom Park that aims to establish the WAF Skate Park. This first-of-its-kind project in Nigeria hopes to be an Avenue for youth development, cultural and cross-generational development.
We are forever grateful for the community that we have built and has helped us grow through the years. As said by our team’s Senior Creative Designer, Addy, in an interview with BSide Magazine by Bounce Networks, “Everyone sees waf. from the outside and it looks all fresh, fly and clean but there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes. There have been numerous sleepless nights, blood, sweat, and tears. People have worked tirelessly. It’s been crazy. If this was something that had been done before, it would have been much easier to draw inspiration or learn from others but this is unprecedented, at least here in Nigeria. It’s just been us failing our way forward.” This dedication for what we do, is what has kept the fire burning and the brand going.
Thanks to our amazing team & sponsors — Power Horse and Jameson — our 10th anniversary party, which took place April 9th, was filled with overwhelming love and support from our community. It was amazing to be surrounded by those who have been a part of our journey celebrating the brand and it’s achievements.
We look forward to the next decade and beyond, as we set new standards, hit even higher goals, grow our community and expand our reach.
Love,
waf. Team
