From left:  Mrs. Adiza Abu, Chief PR Officer, NIMASA, Mr. Isichei Osamgbi, Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, NIMASA, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, Executive Director, Nigerian Heart Foundation, and Mr. Chris Allagoa, Captain Port Harcourt Golf Club, during a media conference on the forth coming NIMASA- sponsored NHF Charity Golf Tournament to be held in Rivers State on September 1, 2018.                                                                           

BY FRANCIS EZEM

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, has said that its decision to partner the Nigerian Heart Foundation NHF on its 2018 Charity Golf Tournament, designed to raise over N100million was in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility CSR and its desire to always touch lives directly.

Recall that the agency had recently donated relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons’ IDP camps in Abuja, Bakassi, Borno and Adamawa States, among others in line with its CSR initiatives through which it touches lives.

Director General of the agency, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, who spoke during a pre-event media briefing in Lagos, Thursday on the NHF Charity Golf Tournament slated to hold September 1, 2018 in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said that the agency is delighted to partner the Foundation in line with its CSR policy.

The DG, who was represented by the Deputy Director in charge of Corporate Communications of the agency, Mr. Isichei Osamgbi, noted that though the core mandate of the agency is in the area of regulating maritime safety and security, it is also committed to saving lives, adding that heart-related diseases cut across gender and age.

He said: “NIMASA is partnering the NHF as part of our CSR focus and we are delighted to be working with the Foundation in its drive towards raising awareness on heart-related diseases. Heart-related diseases, as you may have known, affect all gender, all ages and cut across all socio-economic and geographical lines.

“The Agency has a mandate to achieve and sustain safe, secure shipping, cleaner oceans and enhanced maritime capacity in line with international best practice towards Nigeria’s economic development. In addition to this, NIMASA as a corporate socially responsible agency is glad to participate and lend its voice through this platform put together by the NHF, geared towards creating awareness on heart-related diseases to help save lives”.

He therefore enjoined other corporate bodies and public-spirited individuals to join hands with the agency towards achieving this goal for the sake of mankind.

Executive Director of the Foundation, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, while speaking at the event, observed that heart diseases remain a prominent cause of deaths, saying that recent statistics show that over 34 per cent of Nigerians are prone to high blood pressure as against the figure of 10 per cent less than years ago.

He noted that the Foundation is committed to promoting healthy heart condition in terms of preventing heart diseases, which he insists accounts for high profile of deaths in Africa, including Nigeria through public sensitisation, policy advocacy, research and other means of saving lives including training.

The ED attributed the high prevalence of heart related diseases to lifestyle, especially high consumption of salt, smoking of tobacco, excessive alcohol consumption, among several others, saying that frequent exercise such as walking, jogging, golfing and even playing soccer present veritable means of checking heart diseases.

“Annually, the NHF organises Charity Golf Tournaments in Abuja, Lagos, Jos, Ibadan, Kano, Ada in Osun State and other Golf Courses around the country to encourage participation in lifestyle activities, which is beneficial to the development of healthy heart as well as the prevention of Cardiovascular diseases.

“The 2018 NHF Charity Golf Tournament is slated for Saturday, September 1, at the Port Harcourt Golf Course in River State. The NHF in its bid to reduce and prevent cardiovascular-related diseases in our population plans to raise the sum of N100m from this charity tournament”, Dr. Akinroye said.

He therefore thanked NIMASA for its decision to partner the Foundation and therefore challenged other corporate bodies and individuals in the country to take a cue from the agency.

Captain of the Port Harcourt Golf Course, Mr. Chris Allogoa, also while speaking at the event, commended NIMASA for its exemplary partnership.

The NHF is a national charity inaugurated in July 1992. It is an affiliate of the World Heart Federation WHF, Geneva and a founding member of African Heart Network. Its major objective is heart health promotion, support of medical and scientific research in heart disease and advocacy on heart issues.