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| Hon. Remy Chukwunyere, AFRYDEF boss |
As an annual event, the World AIDS Day is celebrated annual on the 1st day of December and it is an opportunity for world leaders and other stakeholders to assess their contributions to the fight to end the prevalence of the pandemic and to renew their commitment to this struggle.
In a release, signed by its Executive Director, Hon. Remy Chukwunyere used the opportunity to call on the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha to rescue the State agency with the mandate to execute HIV/AIDS prevention and cure projects in the State.
According to him, the activities of the Imo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (Imo SACA) have been incapacitated following a number of unresolved issues since 2010. This Hon. Chukwunyere said has led to the inability of the State through the agency to access the World Bank funds meant for these projects in Imo State.
The organization, AFRYDEF, therefore used the opportunity to bring this matter to the urgent attention of the Governor, who they said may not have known about this ugly development.
The full text is as follows:
AFRYDEF celebrates 2013
World AIDS Day: Calls Governor Rochas Okorocha to intervene in the activities
of Imo SACA
We thank God Almighty for another opportunity to celebrate
the annual World AIDS Day, which is being celebrated today across the world.
The annual event is usually a day set aside by the United
Nations to enable us come together as a global community to fight this
devastating pandemic called HIV/AIDS.
We also use this opportunity to remember friends and loved
ones whom we lost to this dreaded disease, stand with millions of others living
with HIV/AIDS, and renew our commitment to preventing the further spread of
this virus.
We, in African Youth Development Foundation (AFRYDEF) would
like to use this great opportunity today to call on His Excellency, Owelle
Rochas Okorocha, the Executive Governor of Imo State to intervene in the crisis
bedeviling the Imo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (Imo SACA).
For the past four years now, the activities of the agencies
have been grounded in Imo State following a number of internal issues, ranging
from the transition from a Committee to an Agency and the incessant removal and
replacement of the Director-General of the Agency.
We are bringing this to the fore because; we believe that His
Excellency might not know about this development, which has drastically affected
the access to the World Bank grants and disbursement of funds to NGOs and CBOs
for the implementation of various HIV prevention projects in the State.
As partners and funders of National Agency for the Control of
AIDS (NACA) and all State Agencies for the Control of AIDS, including Imo SACA,
the World Bank annually releases grants for various state-and community-level
projects.
Unfortunately, Imo State has not been able to access and
utilize its funds because of the internal issues yet to be resolved in the
agency.
As the 2013 theme for World AIDS Day is “Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Results for an AIDS-Free
Generation,” we hereby wish your Excellency can set up a panel of inquiry
into this matter to ensure that it is speedily resolved to enable the agency
bounce back and join others across the nation in the fight against the spread
of new infections in the State.
As an NGO based in Imo State, active in HIV/AIDS programming,
we cannot continue to shy away from facing this challenge head on as silence supports
the thrive of HIV/AIDS in the society.
Now is the time for your Excellency to intervene as we pledge
our usual support to partner with the State in this struggle to reduce the
further spread of HIV/AIDS in Imo State.
God bless His Excellency, Owelle Rochas Okorocha!
God bless Imo People!!
Signed:
HON. REMY CHIDI CHUKWUNYERE,
Executive Director/CEO
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