ABU students launch war against AIDS
Students of Ahmadu
Bello Universities
Zaria, have launched a campaign against the HIV/AIDS scourge, with the Deputy Senate President, Dr Ibrahim Mantu, advocating that legislators take the lead in the campaign. The stude-nts, under the name: Youth Awareness Movement Against AIDS in Africa (YAMAA), held the maiden paper and award present-ation at the university’s assembly hall on the 6th of August 2004.
Senator (Dr) Ibrahim Mantu, in a paper titled “Role of Legislators in Combating HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa” said parliamentarians could advance HIV/AIDS and human rights issues in their roles as political leaders, strategy communicators and as reviewers and reformers of laws.
Senator Mantu, who spoke through a represent-ative, said legislators could influence public opinion, and increase public knowledge of relevant issues.” He said that legislators could act as advocates, mobilising the involvement of government, private sector and civil society. They could also mobilise resources and ens-ure the allocation of financial resources to support and enhance affective HIV/AIDS programmes that are consi-stent with human rights principles. The deputy senate president concluded his speech by informing the students that global partnership existed, which involved the inter-parliamentary union (I.P.) and seven agencies of the United Nations.
In his address at the occasion, the Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, said the state’s health ministry would support the students in way possible to fight AIDS. The governor, who was represented by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Dr (Mrs) Mary Zwingina, also thanked the students for the initiative since the state, with as HIV prevalence rate of about 6% in the 2003 survey, was above the critical level of 5%.
Present at the programme were Dr Mark David Anthony, the project manager, Kaduna State HIV/AIDS project, who was also the chairman of the occasion. Awards were given to the former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon; the deputy senate president, Dr Ibrahim Mantu, the chairman of NACA, Prof Babatunde Osotimehin and others.
The Youth Awareness Movement Against AIDS in Africa is a youth-centred group formed in November 1999 to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. According to the leaders of the organisation, David Ayegba, a 25 year old 400 level student of geography, and Adegoke Adedamola, the group focuses on attitudinal change amongst youths. “Our focus,” Ayeg-be, the executive director, told Daily Trust, “is on conduct, not on condom.”
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