Monrovia – The Liberia Football Association has received a massive transportation support from a Liberian-owned transportation company, Metro Ride Incorporated.
The agreement is part of the firm’s contribution to the national team as part of its corporate social responsibility. The support comes ahead of the Lone Star’s match against Chad’s national team in the African Cup of Nations qualifier on Wednesday, October 9 at the SKD Sports Stadium.
The agreement with the Liberian company will see the LFA save tens of thousands of United States dollars and ensure players are commuted to practices and games without cost to the FA.
Signing the agreement on Friday, October 4 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia, LFA president Mustapha Raji lauded Metro Ride for the support to the national team and said it will save a lot of cost for the FA.
Based on the average training for the senior national team the LFA spends around US$2,500 for bus rental, Raji said.
The national team has been without a bus for over three years, constraining the Football Association to rent buses during international games, something Mr. Raji said poses serious financial problems for the LFA.
“We are going to have more games [and] depending on the number of games we are going to be playing and the fixture going to run into tens of thousands of United States dollars, so we really appreciate the gesture of Metro Ride to come to the aid of the national team,” Raji said.
He expects other Liberian companies to emulate the good example of the Metro Ride.
“Considering the level of investment this company decided to make and help our national team during the trainings and its games to encourage them to reinvest in Metro Ride by using their service because in this way Metro Ride will give us the opportunity to use more of their vehicles and give us more support. Liberians should see it as a way of reinvesting in the services of Metro Ride.”
The move, according to the Liberian-own business, is to give back to country as part of its corporate social responsibility.
During the signing ceremony, Metro Ride Manger Dogba Norris said his company will provide buses for the team for its practices and games.
Norris said because Metro Ride Inc. is a part of the Liberian society, it sees sports at the national level as a tool for national unity.
The Metro Ride Manager noted that his firm is a partner of the LFA for the development of the game of football in the country.
He hailed the LFA President for transforming the association and said the agreement is a means of buttressing his work in taking the national team to noble heights.
“At Metro Ride, we have a saying, ‘Keep Moving Forward.’ So we always support progress – that is the Metro’s spirit. We always want to support such services and by our services that is why we came to the national team to give our support,” said Norris, who also announced that his company was celebrating its first year anniversary on the day the agreement with the LFA was signed.
“We think at this time it is significant – giving the economic situation – as a Liberian company, we own our feature and to that extent we made our services available to the LFA in its effort to ensure that our national team go to where we want it to be.”
At the same time, the Metro boss disclosed that his company has a long term plan to support sports, education and health as three main areas of corporate social responsibility.
Metro is a subsidiary of transport company, ORAGON Group – a major player in Liberia’s transport and tours industry with a US$20 million investment. Oregon has remained present in the transportation sector for more than a decade.