From Fred Itua, Abuja
Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, yesterday in Abuja declared war on cancer pledging to work with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and Onyenbuchi Chris Ifediora Foundation (OCI) to curb the spread of sickness.
She made the promise during the official flag-off of the Arm Our Youths Anti Cancer Health Campaign.
“I wish to declare my support for the fight against all forms of cancer and I use this medium to call on cancer stakeholders to exact more effort in awareness creation amongst our citizens. It is also important to come up with new ideas such as this cascade campaign to secondary schools.
“This campaign has reached thousands of members, including those in hard-to-reach areas. I intend to do more and partner with more organisations such as Nigerian Cancer Society and OCI foundation until we overcome the negative health outcomes associated with cancer,” she said.
Director General of NYSC, Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, represented by the Director Corps Mobilisation, Victoria Ango, said: “As long as health is one of the cardinal programmes of the scheme, the scheme will take the awareness campaign to all the corners of the country.”
Founder and President of OCI, Chris Ifediora, said The Arm Our Youths Health Campaign offered an innovative approach to stemming the scourge of breast and cervical cancers among Nigerians.
“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. We are currently working with Nigerian First Ladies at the state levels and the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council at the national level. With recent developments, we are very hopeful that the current Office of the Nigerian First Lady and her NGO, as well as the current Nigerian legislature, will also partner with us.”