BY OBI CHIDINMA EMMANUEL
ExxonMobil, NBA Africa and PanAfricare announced the 10th season of the Power Forward youth development program, which uses basketball to teach high school students in Abuja, Nigeria, health and life skills.
The season dunked off with a basketball training session for 200 young people aged between 13 and 16 at Africa International College Kaura in the presence of the Director of Sports, Media and Communications for ExxonMobil affiliates in Nigeria, Oge Udeagha, Vice President of NBA Africa and National Director of Nigeria Gbemisola Abudu, National Director of PanAfricare Nigeria, Dr. Patrick Adah, and Olumide Oyedeji, former Nigerian NBA player and 2015 FIBA AfroBasket champion.
Ahead of the dunk off day earlier this week, NBA Africa Academy Assistant Technical Director Joe Touomou led as part of the Power Forward program conducted an NBA junior coach training course for 45 coaches.
Since launching Power Forward in 2013, the program has reached more than 200,000 youth and their communities in Abuja through life and public health awareness workshops, malaria prevention workshops and basketball programs.
President and Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil Nigeria Branches, Richard Laing. said, “The ExxonMobil Malaria Initiative works with nonprofit partners and leading global health organizations to accelerate progress in the fight against the disease in malaria-endemic countries by supporting malaria education and awareness, access to tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment, strengthening and promoting health infrastructure.” Research and Innovation
“The initiative continues to support malaria prevention and control programs in Nigeria, which currently accounts for over a quarter of the global burden of the disease. We are excited to launch the 10th edition of the Power Forward program in partnership with ExxonMobil and PanAfricare.
NBA Vice President for Africa and National Manager for Nigeria Gbemisola Abudu said: “With a focus on youth empowerment and development, we continue to use the transformative power of play to equip our youth with the skills they need to succeed to be successful at football.” On the pitch and in life. The Power Forward program is an important part of our broader effort to make basketball more accessible in Nigeria, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners to increase our impact in communities across the country
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” Over “In Over the past 20 years, the ExxonMobil Malaria Initiative has provided more than US$37.4 million (over 15 billion naira) in cash grants to partners working to develop community solutions in Nigeria.”Patrick Adah said: “The youth involved in the project have continued to educate their peers and community members about the prevention of diseases relevant to public health.”
“They have chosen innovative ways to spread these messages, for example via social media or radio programs. The Power Forward program was launched in ten schools in 2013 and now serves 40 high schools in Abuja. It uses basketball to teach health literacy, including malaria prevention and personal hygiene, as well as life skills such as leadership, respect and responsibility.
