Finally, starting from the week starting February 21, 2022, the long-awaited OCI Foundation’s ArOY Anti-Cancer Health Campaign with the NYSC kicked into life across all the NYSC orientation camps in Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT. This is a product of the partnership between the Onyebuchi Chris Ifediora (OCI) Foundation and Nigeria’s National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC), which was successfully flagged off on February 3, 2022.
Commencement Speech by the OCI Foundation's President
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.
