Follow Us on Google
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
ExxonMobil Foundation and Power Forward basketball clinic, alongside other affiliate organizations in Nigeria have taken malaria awareness campaign to FCT schools with the aim of raising the consciousness of the students on preventive measures against malaria.
This time, the organizations are using the platform of sports, specifically basketball, to pass the knowledge and information on the health literacy and skills to the students in some FCT schools.
Students drawn from five secondary schools in Abuja, namely, Government Secondary School, Karu; Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3; Government Secondary School Tudun Wada, Wuse Zone 4; Raberto Schools Wuse II (Private); Community Secondary School Asokoro (private), participated in the 2022 edition of the basketball programme.
Manager, Media and Communications, ExxonMobil affiliate, Nigeria, Mr. Oge Udeagha, told journalists at a basketball competition organized for FCT schools to raise malaria awareness, that ExxonMobil Foundation was committed to the cause of fighting malaria in Nigeria, hence the interest in young adults as carriers of the message.
He said that ExxonMobil has committed huge financial and human resources over the years to achieve the success recorded so far in the fight against malaria in Nigeria.
He said: “Malaria is endemic in Nigeria and has been responsible for high number of deaths annually, perhaps, more than any other disease including COVID-19 that led to total lockdown of the country and beyond.
“For the past 20 years of intervention against malaria in Nigeria, ExxonMobil Foundation and its affiliates in Nigeria have supported the fight against malaria financially and otherwise. We have committed over N15 billion already in the past 20 years fighting malaria.
“The N15 billion is just what we spent so far in Nigeria. It was deployed in research, advocacy, and other measures against malaria. We have about 15 global scholars engaged in prevention and cure of malaria. Some of them have made great input on the recent malaria vaccine that is at the advanced stage of development.
“Our interest in Power Forward initiatives was to build the capacity, knowledge and skills of young ones from secondary schools by providing them with lifetime skills and knowledge about malaria.
“We expect them to champion the fight against malaria in their homes, schools and wherever they found themselves. They should know how to prevent malaria which is a deadly disease that people take for granted but it’s killing thousands of people every year.
“We have established partnership with reputable brands like NBA and PanAfrica to strengthen our interventions as regards the fight against malaria in Nigeria. We are using sports, this time, basketball as strong power to achieve that.”
NBA Africa’s Director of Operations, Franck Traore, in his remarks expressed delight with the achievements of the programme in Nigeria, noting that the country has produced pool of basketball talents who have attained global acclaim.
He said: “Nigeria is the backbone of basketball on the continent. Most of the black players in the NBA are either from Nigeria or their parents are from Nigeria. So, we’ll continue to work with the team in Nigeria to develop and create opportunities for the youths. For us, we don’t leave any kid behind.”
Country Director, PanAfrica, Mr. Patrick Adah, in his remarks, hailed the NBA and their partners for using the initiative to empower and teach young Nigerians valuable life skills.
“Basketball has been identified as a veritable tool for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) and we are using the game to attract the youths to give them lifetime skills and also to create awareness on public health issues,” he said.
Official of the FCT Secondary Education Board, Mrs Nanre Emeje, said although Nigeria may not have been loud in the game of basketball, many youths have garnered reasonable wealth from the sport.
“From this game, individual families have been impacted upon. The reality then is that clinics of this nature are really what the nation needs to ‘catch them young’. We are optimistic that through this programme, new future heroes of Basketball shall be discovered. To ‘catch them young’ in itself should be the focus of sessions of this type.”
She urged participating students to use the opportunity to improve their skills, venture into a career and better their personal lots and that of their families.
