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NiBUCAA ups ante on war against HIV/AIDS, partners Julius Berger for Abuja office

By Tobi Awodipe
29 June 2019   |   4:03 am
In a bid to effectively fight the HIV/AIDS scourge and improve the country’s prevalence ranking globally, the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS...

In a bid to effectively fight the HIV/AIDS scourge and improve the country’s prevalence ranking globally, the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NiBUCAA) recently commissioned her Abuja office at the Julius Berger Nigeria PLC Corporate head office in Utako district, Abuja Nigeria.

According to the Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) report published early in March this year, of the estimated 200 million people that makeup Nigeria’s population, about 1.9 million now live with HIV. To put this in global perspective, this statistic means the country dropped to fourth on the global HIV prevalence rankings.

The office space was donated by Julius Berger as part of her commitment towards the coalition effort to galvanize private effort and support government’s efforts to end HIV/AIDS by 2030. The event, which took place at the new office, saw dignitaries, stakeholders, representatives and members of the coalition in attendance.

In the welcome address by the executive secretary of NiBUCAA, Gbenga Alabi, he stated the purpose of the organization which is to galvanize resources of the private sector to help address the pressing challenges of HIV/AIDS and associated diseases at all levels of intervention, implement HIV/AIDS workplace programmes and community-based prevention, education, care, and support programmes in the country.

The executive director, Admin, JBN Plc, Alhaji Zubairu Bayi on behalf of the Managing Director of Julius Berger Nigeria, Laz Ritchterz, he said they are happy to be members and partners of NiBUCAA, and once more reiterated their interest in supporting the anti HIV body and was looking forward to the commissioning a five storey building for NiBUCAA in the near future.

In a keynote address by Vincent Nnadi, the ED CSR of Total E & P who represented the co-chairs of NiBUCAA; CEO/GMD Access Bank, Dr. Herbert Wigwe and Managing Director, Total E & P, Nicolas Terraz talked about the relevance of the office looking at the upcoming HIV Trust Fund which will soon be launched. He further encouraged the private sector to join in the prevention and fight against the disease. He went ahead to state that the Abuja office was necessary and overdue as it is the state capital of the federation.

An address by the Chairman, Executive committee; NiBUCAA, Dr Musa Shaibu was read by Gbenga Alabi and he reiterated on the vision, mission and goal of the coalition, thanking Julius Berger for their contributions and recognized other members of the coalition for their continued support.

Lito Nucum who represented Alhaji Nasiru Dantata of Dantata and Sawoe, Kayode Ogungbemi, acting Director General of NACA, Jodi Kaye Wade from USAID, Ibilola Olayinka from UNICEF, Godwin Emmanuel of Ora sure, and Walter on the NACA board, all gave their goodwill messages and pledged their organizations support towards NiBUCAA and the prevention of the further spread of HIV/AIDS and other related diseases in Nigeria.

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