In 2012, the United Nations Foundation designated the first Tuesday in December (Tuesday after Thanksgiving) as #GivingTuesday.

This is a day to encourage, inspire and celebrate generosity on a global scale. #GivingTuesday, “the opening day of the giving season,” is a call to action for all who wants to give something back. The #GivingTuesday is also a way of expressing gratitude for the gift of life, and for all the progress recorded in the outgoing year.

On Tuesday December 2nd 2014, #GivingTuesday was observed for the first time in Nigeria as #GivingTuesdayNg.   #GivingTuesdayNg followed by an ongoing campaign, known as #GivingTide. #GivingTide is a National campaign to motivate the giving of talent, treasure and time towards the Big war against cancer. A new Nigerian movement for giving and volunteering has made its debut. It will kick off each year from #GivingTuesday, and last till the next #GivingTuesday.

#GivingTide is an initiative of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP-Nigeria), – duly registered to promote private-sector led tripartite (private, social and public sectors) collaborations aimed at mobilizing Nigerians to unite in tackling major national problems.

The flagship cause of the CECP is the Big war against cancer and the nine major cancer-related diseases. The Big War is aimed at taking holistic preventive health care to the grassroots using Mobile Cancer Centres (MCC).

CECP’s operational partner for the Big War is the National Cancer Prevention Programme, NCPP, the foremost and major effort towards national cancer control in Nigeria. It pioneered nationwide community-based mass cervical and later, Prostate Cancer Screening, in Nigeria.

With exceptional missionary zeal, the NCPP has been at work since 2007, carrying out awareness, screening and treatment campaigns across the nation. Over 100,000 Nigerians have been directly screened and treated so far, and through the awareness created, the NCPP is helping to protect millions of Nigerians from cancer.

The effort has contributed immensely to the reduction of cervical cancer deaths in Nigeria by 15 percent (from 26 daily in 2008 to 22 daily in 2012, according to the WHO data). There is an urgent need to scale up this effort, Eve as it is the that Cancer Centres (MCC) will facilitate the needed expansion.