Lagos, Nigeria, February 12, 2016 – Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) has unveiled top musicians; Tiwa Savage and Paul Okoye, comedian Gordons and Nollywood actors; Mike Ezuruonye and Adekola Odunlade, as ambassadors for the Family Planning Campiagn 2016.
The campaign, themed “Get It Together”, will be officially launched with a music video that features the two musicians – Tiwa Savage and Paul Okoye.
Get It Together” is aimed at raising awareness about family planning, emphasizing its benefits for men and women of reproductive age, increasing contraceptive use among women and increasing access to family planning services.
This campaign is expected to better the previous family planning campaign in Nigeria themed “Wait For Me” which was launched in 1989. It kicked off with renowned artistes Onyeka Onwenu and King Sunny Ade releasing two songs titled ‘Choices’ and ‘Wait For Me’, with the latter track sung in Pidgin. Impact assessments revealed that it was a resounding success as family planning awareness which stood at 45% in 1990 climbed to 75% awareness by 1993.
Contraception prevalence in Nigeria also increased from 3.5% in 1990 to 10%in 1993.
The first phase of NURHI began before the global resurgence in interest in family planning, and before the Nigerian government had made commitments on the global stage.
While Tiwa Savage and Paul Okoye are National Ambassadors, Gordons, Mike Ezuruonye, Odunlade Adekola, and Aliu Nuhu are ambassadors representing the South-South, South-East, South-West, and Northern regions of Nigeria.
