The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Folashade Ogunsola, has commended Synergy Alliance Inc, a Nigerian NGO, for sustaining its annual philanthropic activities, despite the difficult times.
She made the commendation recently while declaring open the 2024 Free Prostate and Cervical Cancer Screening exercise by Synergy Alliance and hosted by St. Thomas More Catholic Chaplaincy, UNILAG, Akoka, Lagos.
The Vice-Chancellor, a Professor of Medical Microbiology, stressed the need for regular medical checks by men and women, because early diagnosis helps to direct attention to whatever is responsible for any ailment and lead to timely treatment.
Professor Ogunsola was quite pleased with the number of participants who showed up for the exercise and urged them to spread the gospel of regular screening and early detection to others in their communities.
Supporting the Vice-Chancellor at the opening ceremony were the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU (UNILAG Branch), Prof. Kayode Adebayo, and Rev. Fr. Paul Akin-Otiko, Chaplain of St. Thomas More.
The event also featured health talks on Aging and Memory Changes as well as Perimenopause in Nigerian women, delivered by Dr. Adedunni Olusanya, a Neurologist and Dr. Adesina Arikawe, an Associate Professor and Head, Aging, Behavioural and Neuroendocrine Research Group in the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, who is also the President of Synergy Alliance.
94 women between the ages of 18 and 65 years were screened for cervical cancer while 110 men from age 40 years and above took part in the prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening, fully funded by Synergy Alliance, an association of professional men formed in Lagos in 1988.
Dr. Arikawe said sponsorship of the Cancer Screening was in line with the objectives of Synergy Alliance’s annual charity drive which has previously taken the NGO to several other establishments, including the Oru Refugee Camp in Ogun State; ANWAB Centre for the Blind, Yaba; Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria, Lagos; SOS Children’s Village, Isolo; Home for the Elderly, Mushin; Old People’s Home, Yaba; Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, Surulere; Juvenile Welfare Centre, Alakara; Mother Teresa’s Charity Home, Ketu; National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi and SO-SAID Home, Isolo. The group has also in recent times organised cancer screening, blood donation and ECG tests in collaboration with several organisations like the Lagos Country Club, LUTH Blood Bank, LUTH Chaplaincy, Nigeria Red Cross and St. Agnes Medical Centre, all in Lagos.
Arikawe explained: “All these we have done in fulfilment of our Mission Statement which is: ‘To Be a Highly Referenced Association of Men of Like Minds, Committed to The Ideals of Extending Themselves, in The Advancement of Humanity Through Philanthropy”.
Dr. Arikawe said that the annual charity outreach has helped to provide some succour to many recipients in the past, and called on other NGOs, private sector organisations and associations to be more charitable and philanthropic as government cannot provide all the needs of the citizenry.
Synergy Alliance Inc is a socio-philanthropic, non-political, non-religious and non-ethnic association of professional men who came together in 1988 to pool their resources to take care of the less privileged in the society.
Its main objective is to promote philanthropy and provide support for the less privileged in the society by raising funds from among its members for philanthropy and other projects every year.
Synergy Alliance is on record as the first charity organisation that donated relief materials to Liberian refugees during the beginning of their influx into Nigeria in the early 90s when the war in their country broke out. Form then, it continued, under the aegis of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, to donate clothes, food items and other materials to the West African refugees in the Refugee Camp, Oru in Ogun State. Before then, in 2002, to contribute towards independence living for the visually impaired, the Alliance furnished the library and home economics unit of the Anglo-Nigeria Welfare Association for the Blind, ANWAB, Yaba in Lagos.
As friends of ANWAB, it continued to support the ANWAB Centre for the Blind with materials for brailling books for blind students in schools all over Nigeria and members, known as Synergians, also participate in the Charity Walks for the Blind as organised by ANWAB.
