NMAF: PROPOSAL TO THE STAKEHOLDERS AND DONORS

[o. kasirim nwuke , by way of Ide ju Ogwugwu <iko340@engr.usask.ca>]

***Plse. find below the NMAF C'ttee's proposed course of action for your
***consideration and approval or rejection. It will be very helpful if
***debate on this proposal can be concluded asap.
***Apologies for the typos. Hope they do not obscure the meaning of what
***was intended to be conveyed.

PLSE CROSS-POST TO ANA/NFF.

Thanks ........................
----------------------------- Plse read on ------------------------

In Place Of A Preamble, Kind Of.
===============================

The NMAF was born on Mach 8, 1996. It is a non-partisan - politically
neutral - humanitarian effort conceived on the Internet discussion group
known as Naijanet in response to reports of epidemic outbreaks of cerebro
spinal meningitis and other vaccine-preventable diseases in various parts
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Its birth provided a clear and
unequivocal demonstration that Naijanet is not just a talk-shop and that
Nigerians when their country is challenged, can rise above the dim of
rhetoric. Together, we have achieved what is believed to be rare in
cyberspace: We, the Naijanet community (and its spinoffs) have brought
into being, a real-world functioning outfit - The Nigeria Meningitis
Appeal Fund.

The activities of the NMAF are coordinated by an interim Committee
(hereinafter the Committee) whose inaugural membership consisted of the
following persons.

Sarki Abba Abdulkadir, Adedoyin dee Alugbin, Danbala Alhaji Danju.
Ayotunde M. Giwa, Ikhide R. Ikheloa, Ganiyu A. Jaiyeola, Sepribo
Lawson-Jack, Nneka L. Mobisson, Abdu Mukhtar, o. kasirim nwuke, Deji
Odetoyinbo, Joseph O. Ojo, Asopuru Okemgbo, Mohammed A. Salisu, and
Shehu Othman

Mr Peter Agabi was later appointed to represent the ANA/NFF on the
Committee while Messrs Lawson-Jack and Othman left for different reasons.
The Committee is grateful to Messrs Lawson-Jack and Othman for their very
valuable contributions to the success of the NMAF.

ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR
=====================
*Incorporation of the NMAF as a non-profit organization registered in the
State of Massachusetts;
*US Federal Tax-exempt status;
*Spreading the Word: The NMAF flier has been mailed to all donors.
*Producing a "Get Your Child Vaccinated" message. Copies of the tape
were also mailed to some donors.

(Most donors received the brochure and the PSA tape has been mailed to a
number of donors. We still have 4 copies of the tape to give away.)

What We had Initially Planned To Do:
=======================================
We had initially planned two programs:

a. Public Education Campaign. The NMAF will produce and run 30 second
radio advertisements in Nigerian "pidgin" English, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa.
The purpose of these ads is to educate parents about the benefits of
immunizing their children, teach them what the symptoms of Cerebro-Spinal
Meningitis, measles and other vaccine-preventable childhood diseases are
and to encourage them to seek medical treatment as soon as these symptoms
are observed.

b. Primary School Education Program. The NMAF had intended run a
pilot educational program directed at primary school children. In the
pilot phase, a number of primary schools around the country, would have
been provided with teaching materials required for a one hour instruction
on hygiene and infectious childhood diseases. These school children would
have been taught to recognize symptoms, and the importance of
vaccination. It was our hope the children would become agents of
public health in their communities.

We settled for the first program a more immediate and achievable goal.

How The Decision Was Made:
=========================

The Committee consulted widely across a broad spectrum - UNICEF, MSF, the
National Program on Immunization, and the WHO. We also consulted
extensively with you through the updates not only on the program of action
but also on the wording of the NMAF flier and the "Get Your Child
Immunized" messages. On the NGO, you, the Stakeholder may recall that we
briefed you on our contacts with UNICEF, MSF and also on our meeting last
summer, in Ryebrook, NY with the Chairman of the NPI, Prof. Umaru Shehu
who was full of praise for the French MSF when we some members of the
Committee met him last year.

What The Committee Proposes To Do Now
=====================================

The 1997 Meningitis season is already upon us. Press Reports out of
Nigeria indicate that the Federal Government has embarked on a massive
immunization program. There have been no reports of epidemic meningitis
out of Nigeria yet although Press reports indicate that there have been
deadly outbreaks in countries adjoining Nigeria. That does not mean that
we are out of the woods as millions of Nigerian children are yet to be
vaccinated. As you all know the backlog of unimmunized children is big.
In 1995, less than 20% of Nigerian children were immunized while in 1994
only about 22% were immunized.

During our meeting with Prof. Umaru Shehu, the Chairman of the National
Programme on Immunization at the ANPA meetings held at Ryebrook New York,
we received support for the "Get Your Children Immunized" strategy. As a
matter of fact he advised us on the content of the message. We also did
inquire with him about the possibility of airing the message in the
national media at no cost to the NMAF. The Chairman advised us that that
will be impossible in light of the FGNs directive to its media houses to
operate as commercial enterprises. To emphasize this point, he told us
that his Organization, the NPI, buys air time from the National media.

The Committee did not however relent in its efforts to get the Messages
aired for free. Inquiries were made of a number of a number of people. It
was pursuant to that goal that we sent copies of the tapes to a) Prof.
Umaru Shehu, Chairman, National Program on Immunization, b) The Minister
of Information, and c) The Minister of Health. Two not all together
"free" offers from subscribers of the Net were refused. It was the
Committees opinion that accepting such offers would have undermined its
strive to remain politically neutral.

In furtherance of that understanding, the NMAF will like to begin to run
the "Get Your Child Immunized" messages in National Media beginning March
17. We plan to run the messages for at least 30 days in the south and at
least 45 days in the North. We are HOPING that that domestic media outlets
will match 1 for 1 the spots we purchase from them (i.e. a 50% discount.)

Please find below the program that the Interim Committee plans, with your
permission to implement. It is presented to you for your comments,
advice, approval or rejection.

(a1) National Network News: 2 slot @ N78,842.40 = N157,684.80
(b2) FRCN 1 Lagos: (Pidgin only) 30 slots @N1,151.00 = N34,530.00
(c1) FRCN Kaduna: (Hausa & Pidgin) 45 slots @N1,291.00 = N58,095.00
(d1) FRCN IBADAN: (Yoruba & Pidgin)30 slots @N1,131.00 = N33,930.00
(e1) FRCN ENUGU: (Igbo & Pidgin)30 slots @N1,131.00 = N33,930.00

The Committee recognizes that it would have been preferable to have the
messages in the languages of minority groups too. Indeed Mr. Opinya Ekabo
made a proposal to the Committee last year on this matter. Mr. Ekabos
proposal was duly considered but was, with regret, rejected for two
reasons: a) insufficient funds, (We have about USD5,010:00 in the Boston
account), and 2) and the difficulty of choosing from among the competing
minority languages. Indeed had the Committee sufficient funds, the
satisfactory though not optimal, thing to do would be to run the Pidgin
Language version of the PSA in Port Harcourt (Radio Rivers FM) and on FRCN
Benin. This is not late though. We can still do it if netters will be
kind enough to consider making a generous donation to the NMAF at this
time.

The Committee has compensated for the lack of minority languages by
requiring that the Pidgin English version of the PSA be aired in all parts
of the country. In terms of the number of hours, we think that it will
have the most number of hours in the aggregate.

The tapes have been couriered to Mr. Robert Obioha, the health Reporter
for the Vanguard Newspapers, who has been helping in our efforts to get
the "Get Your Child Immunized" messages aired.

The Committee urges you, the stakeholders, to carefully consider the
proposal presented to you and prays you to grant the it permission to
incur the necessary expenditures. We recognize that suggestions were made
that blankets, hospitals or some material be donated to a hospital. Such
suggestions, while not without merit, will, it was the Committee's
considered view, benefit a few, especially those with access to hospitals,
usually the well-off. As we informed you in one of our Reports, Nigeria
does not appear to lack for vaccines at this time. The Chairman of the
National Program on Immunization informed us last August that the country
had more than enough vaccines. (The NPI needs computers, cold storages
etc etc). Health information, the Committee agreed, will benefit more
people, especially the poor.

The Committee will like to thank you all for your donations. It
acknowledges with gratitude the tremendous amount of work that Mr.
Ayotunde Giwa put into producing the "Get Your Child Immunized" messages.
We recognize Ms. Aderonke Odina (Credit Voice), George Ezike (Pidgin),
Adanma Igboanusi (Igbo) Tracy Folarin (Yoruba), Mrs. Hanna Omole (Hausa)
for their service. We give special thanks to the Recording Engineer
Adiche Bob-manuel and also to Wole Alade (Yoruba Translation) and Gaga
Ekeh (Pidgin Translation). We will also like to immensely thank Majek
Fashek for allowing the use of his song "Majek Beware" as background for
the messages.

The Committee will also like to acknowledge the assistance of the
following persons for getting the NMAF access to the Press: Yinka Adeyemi
for mentioning the NMAF to his friends in the media, Tunde Fagbenle for
writing about the NMAF in the column he writes for the Punch Newspaper,
Akinlabi Jimoh for his very fine reports on the NMAF to the Guardian
Newspaper, and to Shehu Othman for mentioning the NMAF to West Africa
magazine. The Committee is especially grateful to Mr. Robert Obioha, the
Vanguard Newspapers reporter. Mr. Obioha in addition to doing a story on
the NMAF (last Thursday) is also assisting us with arrangements to place
the ads in Nigeria. He has been selfless in his efforts. We thank him.
We also thank Mr. Asopuru Okemgbo for his efforts in this area.

The Committee will also like to thank Messrs Bolaji Aluko and Yinka
Adeyemi for their offer to assist place the PSAs. The Committee regrets
that it could not accept the offers.

The success of our collective endeavor shall be measured, not by the
amount of favorable press the NMAF receives but by the degree to which we
are able to translate our collective dreams for the Nigerian child into
reality. Our ability to do so depends in large part on how much money we
have. The Committee will therefore like to take this opportunity to once
again plead with you all to make a kind and generous donation to the NMAF.
With sufficient funds, we will be able to do the many things you want
done. For example, an additional US$1,000:00 will permit us to run the
Pidgin version of the "Get Your Child Immunized" message in Port Harcourt
and Benin. [Port Harcourt is very important unless you, the Stakeholders,
do not want okn to go home as without anything to show his people for
his membership of the NMAF (in the Nigerian tradition), he might forever be
banished to Fernando Po :-)))] . Please send your generous contribution to:

The Nigeria Meningitis Appeal Fund, Inc.
P. O. Box 15340
Kenmore Station
Boston, MA 02215

Make your cheques payable to the NMAF.

We are almost at the end of this collective enterprise, an enterprises
which has been at times positively challenging, inspiring, and motivating
and at times frustrating, vexing, and taxing. Overall this enterprise has
been very instructive, enriching and rewarding. Valuable lessons have
been learned. Members of the Committee are grateful to you for giving them
the opportunity to serve you.

In closing, we note that our collective endeavor will be judged but by
the additional number of Nigerian households that our simple "Get Your
Child Immunized" message encourages to take a child to the immunization
center. May we hope that our simple message will encourage thousands of
marginal households to immunize their children.

May God bless Nigeria.*

Thank you.

The Interim NMAF Committee.
---------
*okn prefers: May Providence bless Nigeria.

Plse. crosspost.

[Ide ju Ogwugwu]

At 08:26 PM 3/12/97 -0500, o. kasirim nwuke wrote:

>Please find below the program that the Interim Committee plans, with your
>permission to implement. It is presented to you for your comments,
>advice, approval or rejection.
>
>(a1) National Network News: 2 slot @ N78,842.40 = N157,684.80
>(b2) FRCN 1 Lagos: (Pidgin only) 30 slots @N1,151.00 = N34,530.00
>(c1) FRCN Kaduna: (Hausa & Pidgin) 45 slots @N1,291.00 = N58,095.00
>(d1) FRCN IBADAN: (Yoruba & Pidgin)30 slots @N1,131.00 = N33,930.00
>(e1) FRCN ENUGU: (Igbo & Pidgin)30 slots @N1,131.00 = N33,930.00

okn, what's the total of these in US$??? Otherwise, I vote YES(Approval)
to the above. Mark you, my YES vote is mutually independent of the
question.

If you are a NMAF donor, please tick your vote below. And let's get
going. Thanks to Ugonna for bringing some sanity to Naijanet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
S/N Donor YES NO
Suggestion
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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1. Oguocha Ike x
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

[o. kasirim nwuke]

PLSE CROSS-POST TO ANA/NFF.

Please find below the program that the Interim Committee plans, with your

permission to implement. It is presented to you for your comments,
advice, approval or rejection.

(a1) National Network News: 2 slot @ N78,842.40 = N157,684.80
(b2) FRCN 1 Lagos: (Pidgin only) 30 slots @N1,151.00 = N34,530.00
(c1) FRCN Kaduna: (Hausa & Pidgin) 45 slots @N1,291.00 = N58,095.00
(d1) FRCN IBADAN: (Yoruba & Pidgin)30 slots @N1,131.00 = N33,930.00
(e1) FRCN ENUGU: (Igbo & Pidgin)30 slots @N1,131.00 = N33,930.00

The Committee recognizes that it would have been preferable to have the