National Flag-off: From February 3, 2022, the OCI Foundation’s Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign With the NYSC, Will Commence.

The long-awaited partnership between the Onyebuchi Chris Ifediora (OCI) Foundation and Nigeria’s National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) is set to be officially launched on Thursday, February the 3rd, 2022, in Abuja, the Capital City of Nigeria. Alongside the OCI Foundation and the NYSC, the event is being delivered in partnership with the Nigeria Cancer Society (NCS), the Nigerian First Ladies Against Cancer (FLAC, a group of Nigerian Governors’ wives that are passionate against cancers), and the Sweet Home Africa Humanitarian Foundation (SHAHF). This is arguably one of the most impactful healthcare initiatives in the developing world. not just Nigeria.

Event Theme: “Using technology as a game-changing weapon for Nigerian youths in the fight against breast and cervical cancers”

Venue:  Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Conference Centre and Suites, 496 Ahmadu Bello Way, Abuja, Nigeria

Date: Thursday, February the 3^rd, 2022.

Time: for 10 am, Prompt.

Expected Guests:

• Nigeria’s Vice President
• Nigeria’s First Lady
• Nigeria’s Senate President
• The Director General of the NYSC
• The Vice Chancellor, UNIZIK, Awka Nigeria (Keynote Speaker)
• Some serving Nigerian Governors (at least one from each geo-political zone)
• Four serving Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Health, Education, Women Affairs and the Minister of State for the FCT)
• All members of the Nigerian First Ladies Against Cancer (FLAC)
• The President, Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS)
• The Ambassadors/High Commissioners of the Gambia and Mexico
• The WHO Country Representative
• Representatives of the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA), as well as other OCI Foundation’s associates from Australia, Sweden and Canada.
• Top Nollywood stars, led by Ebelle Okaro-Onyiuke
• The President/Founder, Sweet Home Africa Humanitarian Foundation
• The House Committee Chairman on Healthcare Services
• The CEO, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Nigeria
• Other members of the Nigerian Presidency and the National Assembly
• Company CEOs and other business executives, NGO managers, and many more . . . .

The NYSC is the official arm of the Nigerian Federal Government that oversees the one-year compulsory national service of graduates from all Nigerian tertiary institutions. Annually, over a quarter of a million Nigerian youths pass through the scheme, and this partnership with the OCI Foundation will ensure that anti-cancer messages will become part of the regular orientation activities that will reach all participants in the scheme.

The internationally endorsed Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign is a novel, Harvard-endorsed, WHO-supported, and evidence-based health promotion initiative of the OCI Foundation, which primarily seeks to introduce anti-breast and anti-cervical cancer programs into the NYSCs orientation activities across Nigeria. It also aims to include preventive teachings into the academic curriculum of all senior secondary schools in Nigeria’s 36 states (and the FCT) before the end of 2025, a project which we are currently working on, with Nigerian First Ladies/Governors’ wives (at the state level), and the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC, at the national level). A new collaboration with

In September 2019, Anambra State became the first State in Nigeria to commence the ArOY Campaign, following a 3-day colorful ceremony that was held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. A documentary of that event is available HERE, while pictures from the events are available HERE, AND HERE.