By Sola Ogundipe

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark 2019 World AIDS Day, NNPC-NAPIMS, in collaboration with the management and staff of Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd., and their partners (PETROBRAS, SAPETRO & CNOOC) have taken the fight against HIV/AIDS to secondary schools in Lagos state.

The students of Ajigbede Girls Secondary Senior School; Gbaja Girls Senior Secondary School; Ideal Girls Senior Secondary School, Ansar-ud-Deen Secondary School, and Government Senior Secondary School, all in Lagos benefited from the launch.

During the official launch of the awareness campaign in the five secondary schools, the Managing Director, Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd., Mr. Mike Sangster, said the move was in the bid towards tackling ignorance and increasing awareness among youths and adolescents.

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Sangster, who was represented by the General Manager, CSR, Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd., Mr. Ajukwura Wokoma, maintained that awareness remained the most effective weapon against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

He argued that students need to be aware because with knowledge comes the ability to make informed decisions for the protection of themselves, families, and communities against HIV/AIDS.

“The Youths are most vulnerable to HIV infection, because of ignorance and by engaging in risky behaviours like drug abuse cult activities, blood rituals, and sexual exposures whether by consent or rape.

He said the UNAIDS has made the theme for the 2019 World AIDS Day as Communities make the difference.

“In line with this theme and our usual practice, Total Upstream Nigeria Limited is, once again, bringing the awareness campaign to the schools gathered here today. especially for developing nations where young people, who are the most productive segment of the population, remain at risk.”

According to Sangster, there is a link between the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and the level of ignorance among the public.

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“At Total, we believe that raising public awareness on this scourge is a sure way to combat it. To minimise the impact of this disease, Total joins the United Nations and the World Health Organisation as part of a broad-based coalition that is leading the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“It is for this reason that Total Upstream Nigeria Limited extends it’s annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign to Secondary Schools.  We thank our technical partners on this project, Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS, NIBUCCA, for their dedication and commendable work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

He assured that Total Upstream Nigeria Limited and partners will continue to collaborate with government at all levels, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, to educate the public on the preventive measures to mitigate the spread of HIV/AIDS.

According to Wokoma, ignorance is a big challenge so the campaign is for people to be aware even as this level so they can make informed decisions to protect themselves.

“In the fight, the greatest prevention is abstinence and awareness, that is the key message to the children to protect themselves. This school’s campaign has been an annual event since 2014 when we started.

“The schools are chosen by the Ministry of Education and every year we choose a cluster. It is a big challenge, we are taking it one step at a time. There are different aspects of the fight against HIV/AIDS. The first is the awareness creation for people to be aware and to take preventive measures, and also by knowing their status.

“During the exercise, tool kits in the form of information leaflets were distributed to the students. They are written in simple languages and cartoons that the children can understand. The focus was on vulnerable groups such as young girls to be able to say no when pressurized to have unsafe sex.

Vanguard