PRESS CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY PERMANENT MISSION OF NIGERIA

PRESS CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY PERMANENT MISSION OF NIGERIA

Super-middleweight boxing champion Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, and rhythm and blues star Ashanti expressed excitement today over their forthcoming participation in the “Battle of Hope”, a women’s boxing/concert doubleheader to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 10 January 2004 to raise awareness and funds for the fight against AIDS and the trafficking of women in that country.

The event was announced at a press conference sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations.  Ms. Ali said she would participate in order to be a positive influence on young women and to show females in a positive light.  Hopefully, she would inspire other people to get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Ashanti Douglas said that because she had lost family members to HIV/AIDS, she wanted to raise awareness of the disease.  Blessed in the number of people listening to her music, she looked forward to going to Africa and helping to educate people there about HIV/AIDS.

Also present at the press conference was Jermaine Jackson, founder of Earthcare International and a former member of the Jackson Five musical group.  He said that Earthcare, a non-profit organization trying to alleviate human suffering in the world, focused on HIV/AIDS in Africa.  The high-profile boxing/music event, featuring celebrity fighters and entertainers, would disseminate information and dispel myths about the disease.

Councilman Bill Nwoye of Altadena, California, who, as vice-president of Africa Zcorp and William World Wide, Inc., is promoting the Abuja event, noted that 10 Nigerians would have died of AIDS-related causes before the end of the press conference.  While even a single person could make a difference, today a combination of unusual talent -- women and men in boxing and musical entertainment -- had joined hands to redefine the meaning of the AIDS stigma.

At the outset of the press conference, Nigerian Charge d’Affaires Ndekhedekhe E. Ndekhedekhe, said the spread of HIV/AIDS was one of the cardinal health concerns of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).  The Government and people of Nigeria welcomed the initiative by Chief Amina Atiku Abubakar, wife of Nigeria’s Vice President, in launching the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) to raise funds for the establishment of satellite AIDS clinics in the country.

Abdulrazaq Garba, special assistant to Ms. Abubakar, said the foundation had saved thousands of Nigerian youths, bringing back to the country hundreds of girls who had been forced into prostitution.

The press conference was moderated by Rick Kulis, special advisor to WOTCLEF and President of Hollybrook Regency, Inc.

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