2026 OCI Foundation’s Goodwill Message: Video and Full Text from the President (01/01/2026)

TEXT OF THE GOODWILL MESSAGE FROM THE OCI FOUNDATION (JAN 2026)

1. I welcome us all to the brand new year, 2026.
2. This is the traditional Goodwill Message from the OCI Foundation, an annual ritual that helps us kickstart a new year while taking stock of how we fared in the preceding 12 months.
3. We give God the glory for leading us all through 2025. And we pray for a happy and productive 2026 for all members, volunteers, associates, partners and beneficiaries of the OCI Foundation.
4. I remain yours sincerely, Dr Chris Onyebuchi Ifediora, the President and Founder of the OCI Foundation International.
5. For those fairly new to our organisation, the OCI Foundation International is a conglomeration of independent charity bodies that are formally registered, exist and function in Nigeria (since 2016), Australia (since 2018), and the United Kingdom (since 2023).
6. Our activities across all the countries and continents we operate in are centred on a tripod that includes the Advancement and Promotion of Health, the Promotion of Education, and the Promotion of Public and Social Welfare.
7. Ladies and gentlemen, 2025 was a massive year for us. It was a year that the OCI Foundation in Australia was formally admitted into the prestigious Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).
8. It was a year that allowed our excellence and commitment to the highest standards of humanitarian work to be recognised and honoured.
9. It was a year that finally acknowledged our quest to be the best by admitting us into a union reserved for the very best.
10. For clarity, ACFID membership is an honour exclusive to high-profile and reputable international charity organisations that are based within Australia, but whose functions benefit those outside of it.
11. It is a major milestone for the OCI Foundation and reflects our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, integrity, ethical practice and excellence in international development and humanitarian programming.
12. Membership of ACFID aligns with the OCI Foundation’s vision to uphold global best practices.
13. It expands our capacity to deliver meaningful and lasting impact while enhancing trust with partners, beneficiaries, and supporters.
14. This feat, ladies and gentlemen, confirms what we have known and believed for years: we are the best. Now, in the years to come, we will work with the very best on the global stage.
15. As we all know, to whom much is given, much is also expected. As such, I enjoin all our officers, members, associates, partners and beneficiaries to brace up. We will be held to the highest level of accountability, something that has been part of our everyday fabric since we came into existence nearly a decade ago.
16. In the past year, we have prepared well for the tasks and expectations that come with ACFID membership. Over 40 policy documents and guidelines have been developed to meet their requirements. I urge everyone, including our officers, members, and existing or potential future partners, to become well-versed in these policies. They are all freely available on our website. They are also available through a simple check on Google and other search engines.
17. ACFID membership was not our only major achievement in 2025. Our Founder, my humble self, who is already an Associate Professor of Family Medicine, also completed a PhD program here in Australia. Remarkably, the thesis for that PhD was conceived, developed, and executed based solely on an evaluation of an OCI Foundation project.
18. As we bask in the euphoria of these landmark feats, let us take a recap of our 2025 activities, summarised based on our activities on Health, Education, and Public and Social Welfare.

 

ON HEALTH:

1. We have continued to consolidate on the Arm Our Youths Anti-cancer Health Campaign.

 

2. Widely known as the ArOY Health Campaign, this research-inspired, evidence-based, technology-driven flagship health initiative of the OCI Foundation offers a global-first approach to fight against breast and cervical cancers in developing countries.

 

3. We firmly believe that the ArOY Anti-cancer Health Campaign remains one of the most impactful healthcare initiatives in Nigeria’s recent history, particularly one initiated by a private Non-Governmental Organisation.

 

4. For the records, the ArOY Health Campaign was developed during my time at the United States’ Harvard Medical School and, among other national and international institutions, has earned the support of the WHO’s Country Office in Nigeria.

 

5. The campaign primarily targets two groups of youths. The first are those serving Nigeria through the National Youth Service Scheme (the NYSC), while the second are those in Senior Secondary Schools across Nigeria.

 

6. In 2025, our Campaign with the NYSC was staged SIX different times across most of the 37 orientation camps of the NYSC in Nigeria.

 

7. The NYSC remains one of Africa’s largest youth organisations, and its partnership with the OCI Foundation over the past 23 editions of the ArOY Health Campaign has seen us consistently reach over half a million Nigerian youths with anti-cancer messages on an annual basis.

 

8. The second component of our ArOY Health Campaign with senior secondary schools also continues to enjoy significant success.

 

9. The program in Anambra, one of Nigeria’s 36 states, is accompanied by an annual statewide quiz competition known as the Anambra ArOY Health Campaign Schools Challenge (AHCSC). This competition began in 2021 and concluded its Fourth Edition in 2024/25. Regrettably, the Fifth Edition, designed for 2025/26, could not be held due to factors beyond our control. We intend to be back on this, fully and strongly, in the 2026/27 session.

 

10. The ArOY Health Campaign, which is technology-driven, has an additional component known as the CerviBreast Mobile Phone Application.

 

11. The CerviBreast is an interactive anti-cancer App that is free on both Google and Android Play stores for anyone, anywhere in the world. Kindly pause this video and download this App now. Just search the name C-E-R-V-I-B-R-E-A-S-T on your App Store to download it.

 

12. Excitingly, we are proud to announce that the OCI Foundation is also deep in plans to roll out the BACERS initiative across Nigeria. BACERS stands for Basic Cardiovascular Pulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Response Strategies.

 

13. It is a health-focused public safety and emergency response program designed to equip all Nigerians with the knowledge and practical skills needed to respond to life-threatening emergencies, such as sudden collapses, accidents, cardiac arrests, and other situations requiring immediate first aid before professional help arrives.

 

14. The ultimate aim is to reduce the frequency of needless and preventable deaths resulting from sudden collapses, accidents and other unfortunate incidents.

 

15. To ensure a seamless rollout and a cost-effective, sustainable nationwide implementation, the OCI Foundation is currently engaging Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps, the FRSC. We will also leverage our capabilities from the Arm Our Youths Health Campaign with the NYSC and intend to integrate BACERS into that project.

 

ON EDUCATION:

1. The OCI Foundation successfully delivered on all its SEVEN sets of scholarships across Nigeria in 2025. An eighth category, the “Pathology Award”, also became effective in 2025.

 

2. Our scholarship project is unique, as five of the eight currently on offer are interlinked, allowing a potential recipient to stay on its various levels all the way from junior to senior secondary school, and then through to the completion of their tertiary studies.

 

3. The first two scholarships were named after my beloved father, the late Obi Ifedioramma Isaac Okafor, who was an academic champion in his lifetime. Those scholarships are the “Ifedioramma Okafor Memorial Secondary School Academic Junior and Senior Awards”, otherwise known as the IFOMMSA Junior and Senior scholarships. They benefit those in junior and senior secondary schools, respectively.

 

4. The JAMB Award is the third Scholarship and facilitates enrolment into the University Matriculation Examination (UME). The UME allows entry into Nigerian tertiary institutions.

 

5. The fourth, fifth and sixth incentives are the three scholarships targeting undergraduates already in Nigerian tertiary institutions. They are the Cyfed Undergraduate Scholarship, the Cyfed-Bradley Hope Scholarship (State) and the Cyfed-Bradley Hope Scholarship (National).

 

6. For clarity, the Cyfed Bradley Hope (or CBH) scholarships were introduced to honour the memory of a late Australian teenager, Bradley Hope, whose family, the Hope Family, is based in Australia and partners with the OCI Foundation to deliver this scholarship to Nigerians annually.

 

7. The seventh scholarship is the Literary and Research Award for Medical Students, otherwise known as the LARAMS. LARAMS, which has National and South-east regional categories, is a scheme designed to incentivise students in all recognised medical schools across Nigeria to develop better literary and research skills.

 

8. We are working on introducing LARAMS for medical schools in both Australia and the United Kingdom. The roll-outs in these countries, currently delayed due to technical and logistical reasons, will be modelled on the Nigerian LARAMS.

 

9. We already have staff engagements in both the UK and Australia, ahead of this planned rollout in the two countries.

 

10. Worth mentioning is the OCI Foundation’s “Award for Excellence in Pathology” (otherwise known as the Pathology Award). It is our eighth scholarship award. Two rounds of this were delivered in 2025: the first on March 15th, and the second on December 19^th.

 

11. The Pathology Award represents a commitment from the OCI Foundation to continually honour the top three performers in the Pathology subject, a course taken as part of the 3^rdMBBS professional medical examination at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Medical School, Nigeria. It is now an annual event and forms part of the institution’s oath-taking ceremony for new medical graduates. The top three winners get cash rewards.

 

12. As has been widely acknowledged in the past, the impact of our scholarship schemes is huge. Additional recipients graduated in 2025, raising the number of young Nigerians who have become graduates of Universities and Polytechnics with the support of the OCI Foundation to more than two dozen, with hundreds currently on active support from us.

 

13. Overall, thousands have benefited from the secondary school and JAMB schemes, with scores gaining admissions into Nigerian tertiary institutions annually.

 

14. Among graduates from our scholarship schemes are medical doctors, engineers, accountants, biochemists, laboratory scientists and educators. Ordinarily, some of these young male and female beneficiaries might have struggled to gain admission to tertiary institutions, let alone graduate from them, without the little support provided by the OCI Foundation. These supports come in the form of tuition fees, free accommodation, mentorship and other financial incentives.

 

ON PUBLIC AND SOCIAL WELFARE:

1. This remains the third and final footing of the OCI Foundation’s activity tripod.

 

2. It is dedicated to, though not exclusive to, potential beneficiaries who are not in formal education programs. It allows us to provide direct empowerment projects and train beneficiaries on various skills acquisition programs.

 

3. Through this third leg of our activity tripod, we also provide continual support and solidarity to our bereaved associates at their most trying moments while celebrating with those who had cherished times at weddings, anniversaries, and other events.

 

4. For the 6^th year in a row, the OCI Foundation has also supported a soccer outfit in Nsugbe, the hometown of the Foundation’s President.

 

5. In the past, the Social and Public Welfare programs of the OCI Foundation have also allowed us to sponsor multiple social activities across NYSC orientation camps in Nigeria. Some of these include Pageantries and Quiz competitions, as well as Cultural, Singing and Eating Competitions.

 

6. In October 2025, the OCI Foundation, represented by its President, also featured in the secondReunion Conference of MEDIZIK Australia and New Zealand, a gathering that unites the Australian-based medical graduates or alumni of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Medical School, Nigeria.

 

7. This Social and Public Welfare component of the OCI Foundation’s activities also allows the Foundation to promote Nigerian culture and heritage.

 

IN CLOSING, ladies and gentlemen, we wish to thank all our members, volunteers, partners and associates across the world.

 

We would never have attained the level we did without your commitment to our projects.

 

None of the achievements would ever have been possible without your understanding, patience, resourcefulness, tenacity and belief in our projects and the ideologies underlying them.

 

We also thank all those who have recognised and honoured us in different ways. We appreciate all the awards and remain ready to receive more from reputable institutions worldwide.

 

Thank you all for listening. Kindly share this speech through your social media networks.

 

We wish everyone God’s continued blessings and protection.

 

And we invite you all to continue supporting and partnering with us, as WE RISE, BY LIFTING OTHERS.

 

God bless us all.

 

Thank you.