Tue, May 13, 2025

AIYENURO Joshua, of the T-Jos Signature Nigeria, has declared his intention to set a world record in the Guinness Book for the longest haircut in the world.

The barbing marathon has been scheduled to hold from June 10 to June 17 at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.

Joshua, who is an official barber of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, was unveiled on Tuesday in Abuja by the leadership of the African Civil Society Forum (AFRICSOF) in collaboration with T-Jos Signature.

President of AFRICSOF, Amb. Blessing Akinlosotu, said that achieving such feat would go beyond personal glory as it would bring honour to the country.

“As in all forms of Sports globally, the benefits of achieving a world record extend far beyond financial gains and fame for the individual holder; it is now a thing of national glory for countries; giving the country of the record holder more visibility, audibility, acceptability and authority.

“It is in this light and against this essential background, that AFRICSOF sees need to intentionally and purposely make a strategic departure from the conventional programming and activities of regular civil society, to a partnership venture.

“A venture to promote and manage a young and talented African with lofty aspirations of setting a World Record in the Guinness Book at a Barbing Marathon for the Longest Haircut in the World.’’

He said that the record would not only push young Joshua to global limelight and empowerment, but would   drastically reposition  him  as  a  viable  human tool  to  generate consciousness for skills revolution in the continent, especially in Nigeria.

According to him, Africa is highly endowed and renowned for young population, strength, resilience and high survival instinct.

He regretted that out of the 60,000  Guinness Book records holders as at year 2022, Africa and Africans could only boast of very insignificant  number of listings, with Nigeria having less than 50.

“This has  become an open challenge to  us in AFRICSOF,  explaining the  passion, energy, and resources we intend to invest and mobilise for this project.

“AFRICSOF and T-Jos have already started looking and working beyond the phase one of record setting, to the phase two of pet projects designs and implementation that would break  skill acquisition records in Africa.

“Campaigns are  targeted   at pragmatically  challenging the status quo of low self-esteem and poor self-actualisation among the African youth, equaling confronting some strong social vices such as drug abuse, illegal migration and internet crime.

“We  call  on both the public  and  organised  private  sectors, with  all well-meaning Nigerians and  Africans   to   join   forces with  AFRICSOF  towards   achievement   of  this  dream   for   this   determined   young   man   in   particular,  the country and our beloved continent in general.’’

He called on the media to promote the event vigorously and sacrificially.

Akintoku also urged religious establishments to equally view the  project as perfectly aligning with divine mandate of Human Character Building and National Transformation.

“It has already started receiving endorsements from celebrities, superstars and relevant establishments.

“We request for more, if not all, hands to be on deck for this; this dream must not die; this agenda must not fail.

“We owe it as a duty to the young people of Africa to use this as a deliberate Special Project Vehicle (SPV) to birth a skill-set and talent re-awakening across Africa; to globally reposition our youth with a never-say-die spirit to conquer the world, break existing records and set new ones across all and every aspect of human endevours,’’ he said.

On his part, Joshua said his dream would be beneficial to youths nationwide as he had plans to impact barbing skills on young people in each state of the country.(NAN)

A.I

May 13, 2025