Ali Nuhu, Tiwa Savage, others campaign for family planning

Popular musicians, Tiwa Savage and Paul Okoye (of the P-Square fame) have jointly recorded a song in support of a family planning programme that focuses on the fact that family planning is safe and effective, and that there is a right method for each person.  The duo, with Ali Nuhu, Gordons (a comedian), Mike Ezuruonye […]

Popular musicians, Tiwa Savage and Paul Okoye (of the P-Square fame) have jointly recorded a song in support of a family planning programme that focuses on the fact that family planning is safe and effective, and that there is a right method for each person.
 The duo, with Ali Nuhu, Gordons (a comedian), Mike Ezuruonye and Odunlade Adekola, are the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) ambassadors in the latest campaign for child spacing tagged: ‘Get It Together’ targeted at Nigerian couples.
 While Savage and Okoye were chosen as national ambassadors for the campaign, Nuhu was picked as the ambassador for the northern part of the country,
 Gordons was chosen as ambassador for the Southsouth, Ezuruonye for the Southeast and Adekola for the Southwest zones.
 At the launch of the ‘Get it Together’ campaign in Ikeja penultimate Friday, all the artistes, except Nuhu, were present and gave assurance to carry out an effective campaign across the length and breadth of the country.
 The NURHI project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, launched the campaign with a video that featured Savage and Okoye doing a melodious song in support of family planning among Nigerian couples.
 The Project Director of NURHI, Dr. Mojisola Odeku, who flagged off the campaign, said the programme was organised to increase awareness on the use of modern contraceptives.
 Odeku added that the programme was facing many challenges because a lot of people were yet to know details about family planning. She said the chosen NURHI ambassadors would be sharing their personal positive experiences on family planning to prove to Nigerians that the idea is a normal life decision everyone should make.
 She advised the ambassadors that family planning language they use should be simple and clear; they can borrow from existing slangs like ‘no dulling’, ‘ko kun gane,’ and ‘Tarazan Haihuwa’, which they can link to the campaign slogan of ‘Get it Together.’
 Dr. Odeku also urged the ambassadors to focus on the benefits of child spacing and having the number of children that parents can cater to. “Do not specify the number of children to have as this is culturally sensitive,” she noted.
 She added that the ambassadors should concentrate on the fact that family planning is safe and effective, and that there is a right method for each person. “Do not focus on myths and misconceptions,” she advised.