Around 40 young people from all parts of Nigeria attended a youth workshop in Abuja in August to launch the Nigeria Alcohol Youth Prevention Initiative (NAYPI). Exploring the viability of such an initiative arose from the CRISA conference in Abuja 2008 when Onyeanula Wilson gathered together a group of young students. Since then, with the support of Professor Obot of CRISA and Derek Rutherford of GAPA, work on the initiative has progressed with the adoption of a constitution and registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria.The aims of NAPYI are to: involve young people in the field of alcohol harm prevention at both national and local levels, create bridges of cooperation with other non-governmental organizations within and outside Nigeria that work on alcohol policies and prevention initiatives, and provide services that will empower and equip youths to be active and efficient in the development, monitoring and evaluation of alcohol prevention programmes.


 

An outcome of the workshop was the formation of a team of ten persons, drawn from the six geo political zones of Nigeria,and led by the following officers: Franklyn Chukwuma (Chairman) Faculty of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Teaching Hospital, Ateke Joshua (Vice Chairman) Faculty of Medicine, University of Port Harcourt, Anuli Okoye (Secretary), and Onyeanula Wilson (Coordinator)

Since the workshop, the President of the Nigerian Medical Students’ Association, NIMSA, Patrick Ezie, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Medical Students’ Association and the Youth Initiative. NIMSA has over 30,000 medical students in membership.


Institute of alcohol Studies London