Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
The House of Representatives has passed Second Reading on a bill to incorporate breast and cervical cancer education into the curriculum of all Nigerian senior secondary schools.
Tanko Sununu, Chairman of the House Committee on Health Care Services, and Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education, both of the All Progressives Congress, are co-sponsors of the Bill.
It is part of the “Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Anti-Cancer Health Campaign” of the OCI Foundation, which is aimed at Nigerian Senior Secondary School students and National Youth Service Corps members (NYSC).
Already, each year, the OCI Foundation, in collaboration with Nigeria NYSC, provides the same anti-cancer campaign to hundreds of thousands of Nigerian fresh graduates (youth corps members) across all 37 NYSC orientation camps in Nigeria.
The ArOY Health Campaign has the backing of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, whose NGO, the Future Assured Foundation, is working with the OCI Foundation on the Bill.
“The OCI Foundation’s dream and commitment to empowering Nigerian youths against breast and cervical cancers in all senior secondary schools across the country moves one step closer to reality with the second reading of this ArOY Campaign Bill.”
“We hope that this bill will become law in the near future,” said Charles Okoh, Executive Assistant to the President of the OCI Foundation.
Furthermore, the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig-Gen Muhammad Fadah, has praised the Benue State Government for providing a 3,000-seat lecture hall for the NYSC orientation camp in Wannune.
According to the NYSC chief, once completed, the hall will make orientation course activities more convenient for both staff and corps members while in camp.
He stated this during a working visit to the orientation camp in Wannune, Benue State.
Fadah urged other governors to fulfill their statutory obligations to their respective state NYSC secretariats while praising Governor Samuel Ortom for his positive attitude toward the NYSC.
The director-general urged corps members to gain vocational skills through NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development, claiming that doing so would transform them from job seekers to job creators.
Fadah went on to say that they would be among the recipients of the NYSC Trust Fund, which is on the verge of becoming law.
The NYSC Benue State Coordinator, Mr Abe Ashumate, stated that the 1,137 corps members registered at the time of the visit demonstrated a strong sense of responsibility and discipline.
He attributed the smooth operation of camp assignments to all camp officials working together.
