Samuel ‘Kaizer/Ziggy’ Zakari’s secret night-time practice as a teenager has propelled him into becoming one of Nigeria’s leading Skate Mentors, spearheading an explosion in popularity.
The professional 31-year-old runs Super Glider House, a coaching and management agency, as well as hosting weekly youth coaching clinics at Lagos’s WAF Skatepark.
From solitary sessions to skate family
Zakari first discovered skateboarding in 2010 after playing the Tony Hawk series of video games. Back then, seeing someone skate for real had never entered his young consciousness, and he learned the art purely from YouTube tutorials, all in the dark so as to spare his father hearing him.
“It was just me in the dark,” Zakari reminisced.
He gradually found others sharing his niche passion, often connecting with fellow musicians, dancers, and creative peers. Though it didn’t really strike most skaters as a sport, Zakari described it as ” therapy”.
Then, in 2024, the emergence of the skatepark at WAF Park turned everything into solid ground. Constructed on the former site of an old colonial prison, it represents Nigeria’s very first dedicated public concrete skatepark, providing a tangible base for the nascent culture.
“It helped to bond all the skaters together,” Zakari asserted.
Guiding the new generation of Nigerian skaters
Zakari is also paving the way for some of Nigeria’s raw talent. Sixteen-year-old Joseph Omojuwa has even been given the nickname ‘Skywalker’ by Zakari, after only arriving at WAF Skatepark devoid of a skateboard and shoes.
After being assisted by Zakari in securing adequate equipment for the young hopeful, Omojuwa has been training daily and, under Zakari’s guidance (as well as support from the Roller Sports Federation of Nigeria), has already clinched a gold medal in a Francophone Youth Skate Competition. Omojuwa has since gone on to be photographed with many Lagosians in a recent international Adidas advertising campaign with a team of skaters from the city.
Paving the way forward
Team Nigeria Skateboarding has just been founded this year. Though there are administrative hurdles ahead on the road to international competition, Zakari feels that this future generation have avenues unavailable to him and so many earlier skate generations.
“Now I feel like these kids have an opportunity to blossom faster,” he concluded.
