17 Oct 2021 Videos Only: NYSC’s DG hosts the OCI Foundation and the NCS on a courtesy visit ahead of a one-day seminar for NYSC delegates from Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT.
October 15, 2021:
The Director-General of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, hosted a delegation from the OCI Foundation and the Nigeria Cancer Society (NCS), ahead of the planned 1-Day Seminar for the ArOY Health Campaign., which comes up on October 19th in Abuja, Nigeria.
The DG was represented by the NYSCs Director of Community Development Service and Special Projects (CDS & SP), Alhaji Salawu Abdulrasak, who assured that the NYSC is committed to any project that would impact positively on Nigerians, especially at the rural areas.
On her part, the NYSCs Director of Press and Public Relations, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi, said that many corps members had contributed immensely in addressing the challenges facing Nigerians in remote areas, and that the collaboration with the OCI Foundation will help expand these contributions in a significant way.
The planned Seminar, which holds at the Chelsea Hotel, Abuja, is designed to sensitize NYSC officers from Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT, ahead of a national launch of the Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign (details below) in early 2022.
The OCI Foundation’s delegation was led by its Networking Manager, Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu, who was also the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the Seminar, while the Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS) was led by its President, Dr Adamu Umar.
BACKGROUND TO THE ArOY HEALTH CAMPAIGN
It should be noted that the ArOY Campaign is a novel, Harvard-endorsed, WHO-supported, and evidence-based health promotion initiative of the OCI Foundation, which is being introduced across all senior secondary schools in Nigeria as a way of tackling breast and cervical cancers. In September 2019, it was rolled out across all the 261 senior secondary schools in Anambra State of Nigeria, and a similar event, scheduled for Benue State in May 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All of Nigeria’s 36 states (and the FCT) are expected to benefit from the ArOY campaign on or before the end of 2025, and the ongoing consultations are part of this whole process.
The ArOY Health Campaign has the support of the, NextGenU.org (the World’s first online University), the United States Centers for Disease Control (U.S. CDC) and the University of British Columbia, Canada (ranked 45th in the world, according to the 2021 QS World University Ranking). Experts from these institutions, along with others from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) and the Griffith University (Australia), will work with the OCI Foundation and the Nigerian Government on the roll-out, implementation and monitoring of the ArOY project. In addition, the prestigious Harvard Medical School, USA, of which Dr Chris Ifediora (the Founder of the OCI Foundation) is an Alumnus of, had earlier endorsed the Campaign, and made significant contributions to the Campaign’s design ahead of its roll out in Anambra State last year.
A number of other reputable Nigerian institutions partnering the OCI Foundation on this initiative include the Innoson Group, the NYSC (National Office), the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (Nigeria), Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Federal Ministry of Health (Nigeria), Nollywood Nigeria, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), Silk Road Restaurant (Abuja), and the Post Primary Schools Service Commission, PPSSC (Anambra state), among others.
There are also plans to involve the Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum (which includes the Governors of all the 36 States of Nigeria), and Nigeria’s ministries of Health, Education and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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