DC To Naija Tour | Abuja

By Maxwell Brothers

On Friday, December 12, 2025 after nearly 24 hours of travel, the SHAPE Skate Foundation team landed in Abuja, Nigeria to kickstart our very first multi-state Naija Tour, in partnership with Skating is Risky and New Balance Numeric. Coming from the winter cold of Washington, D.C., we welcomed the 90 degree temperatures that we were met with when we got off of the plane.

In total, there were five of us, starting with Imoh Ekasi-Otu, the Founder and President of SHAPE; Nnamdi Ihekwoaba, the Director of Media and Global Outreach; Greg Russell Jr., the Officer of Events and Community Engagement, myself, as the Officer of Communications and Donor Relations, as well as our special guest Mike Boisvert, otherwise known as The Skate Nomad on YouTube. Mike met up with us during our layover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he had already been for a week prior documenting the skateboarding scene, which made for an easy rendezvous with him in the airport.

The first day was pretty straightforward -- after leaving the airport, we went straight to the hotel, where we quickly unpacked our bags and prepared to meet up with the Abuja locals for the first skate session of the trip at the Ministry of Justice. After getting to know each other better and landing some tricks, we ended the night at a rooftop lounge that overlooked some landmarks of the city, such as the Millennium Tower and the Abuja National Mosque.

The following day was our first full day in Nigeria, and we had our first event planned: the Abuja Skate Jam at Monaliza Park. This was a collaborative event with the Go Skate Nigeria crew, to whom we’d like to give a huge shout out for not only helping organize the event, but for constructing a quarterpipe and ledge that were skated at the event.

From the beginning, the Abuja Skate Jam was busier than we had even anticipated. The basketball court that we rented out was in a sports complex filled with children of all ages playing soccer. As soon as we started skating, kids started flocking to the court. Some had soccer cleats on, some were barefoot, but all were drawn to the sounds and sights of skateboarding, to the point where the soccer coaches had to come over and persuade them to come back to the soccer field.

As more skaters arrived, we officially kicked off the skate jam by offering skate lessons for every skill level, and the progress of some of the people who had never stepped foot on a board before was amazing! We also held contests for the highest ollie, longest manual, and first to land a kickflip, and gave away shoes, apparel, and boards from New Balance, Skating is Risky, and SHAPE.

The next day was going to be our last day in Abuja, so we met up with the Go Skate Nigeria crew to skate one of their favorite hills. With its smooth asphalt, winding turns and epic views it did not disappoint one bit. We had some time before our flight, so we skated at the National Stadium, which is one of the locals’ favorite skatespots. It features gaps, curbs, flatground, as well as the quarterpipe and flatbar from the prior day’s skate jam. After our session, we left for the airport to catch our flight to the next stop on the tour, Uyo. However, we learned that our flight had been delayed until the very next day, so we booked another night in a hotel and got some much needed rest.

All in all, Abuja was an epic way to kick off our Naija Tour. The skaters there gave us the warmest welcome, and with how tight knit and active their skate scene is, it seems like it is destined to keep growing. One can only imagine how much Abuja’s skate scene would benefit from the construction of a skatepark, and we hope that this dream will become a reality some day in the near future.

Check back in with us soon for an update from the next stop of our tour, Uyo!