Nigeria's Vice President's wife, Mrs.Amina Titi Atiku Abubakar, invites ADF's Ambassador of Goodwill and ADF to meet with her in Nigeria regarding a collaborative future

December 2003

ADF efforts to meet with the wife of Nigeria's Vice President, Mrs. Titi Amina Abubacar-Atiku, were successfully achieved and the meeting was scheduled over three days in December. Mrs. Atiku is the founder of the Women’s Trafficking and Child Labor Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF). The mission of this foundation is to bring the large number of Nigerian women trafficking in other countries, back home to Nigeria and educate them with marketable knowledge and skills. Also, Nigeria has a large number of children who work at early ages and do not go to school because high poverty levels force them to choose the search for money to attain better living levels. Recently Mrs. Atiku has seen that bringing women who have been prostituting themselves back to the country has consequentially increased the proliferation of HIV in Nigeria, because many of the women have been found to be HIV positive. This discovery has caused Mrs. Atiku to expand the scope of her work to include stopping the proliferation of HIV, reducing the negative stigmatization of those infected, and also lobbying for lowering the cost of HIV drugs. A concert-boxing event to raise money for a new women's' trafficking center has been set for January 10, 2004, and Mrs Atiku wanted ADF and Jermaine Jackson to assist her in promoting the concert.

The first affair to help in the event 's promotion was a press conference at the United Nations in New York on World Aids Day, December 1, 2003. Jermaine was a premier spokesperson, joined by celebrity participants Laila Ali, a boxer, and Ashanti, a singer. Jermaine Jackson and Agrippa Ezozo (a.k.a EZ) arrived in New York on November 30, 2004. At the press conference, Jermaine read his speech prepared by ADF members, and afterwards had to deflect questions about the negative allegations against his brother Michael. To avoid being mobbed by the media crews, EZ and Jermaine fled the scene after the questioning was over, and the media pursued them out the building. This press conference received international coverage and had reportedly drawn the largest number of media people to the UN press room in a long while. After the press conference anchorwoman, Rita Cosby, interviewed Jermaine at Fox News. Transcripts of her interview are available on the internet.

In another time zone, ADF was also involved in other global missions work. Board member, Louis Ebodaghe, was giving a speech at the Africa Recruit seminar held in Nigeria. This foundation works to import talented Africans in the diaspora back to Africa to reduce the brain drain and foster successful businesses as business growth demands capable employees. Dr. Banjoko, the founder and director, of the organization is a friend and ally to ADF. Louis successfully gave his speech to the crowd that gathered at the event and at a workshop held at another time in the day.

On Tuesday, December 2, 2003, EZ and Jermaine had a meeting with African doctors, business people, religious leaders and a former diplomat. Tony Brobbey of the Bank of New York arranged the meeting. The focus of the meeting was to publicize ADF to influential people in NY.

On Wednesday, December 3, at the UN, EZ and Jermaine met with Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Special Advisor on Africa to Kofi Annan. Tony Brobbey and the Nigerian Ambassador to the UN arranged the meeting. Jermaine explained the role of EarthCare International and how the UN could play a vital role in the mission of the organization. ADF was well received and was invited to apply for a UN Status. Tony Brobbey has agreed to start the process.

Later that day, EZ and Jermaine met with the renowned promoter, Don King. He was in great spirits. Afterwards, they packed and departed for Amsterdam, where Chita Obasi joined them from Los Angeles.

We arrived in Nigeria on December 4, 2003 around 10:40 p.m. Jermaine was welcomed at the airport with, dancers and a sign that read “JERMAINE JACKSON WELCOME HOME.” We were ushered to the Abuja Sheraton hotel where we were given security passes to enter the hotel. This trip coincided with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) taking place in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city. All hotels in the city were reserved for guests of the national office.

December 5th was a busy day with interviews starting at 7:30am. Nigerian Television Authority and three other radio stations interviewed Jermaine. EZ and Chita worked with the various hosts to promote ADF and tell them what we are planning. One radio station, Cool FM, was operated by a gentleman very interested in peace in Nigeria. He just started a radio segment called "Peacemakers" where discussions and advertisements of peace related topics were discussed and music related to improving society and mindsets are played. This point of contact leads to an array of political leaders and businessmen in Nigeria who are also interested in a Nigerian peace program.

At noon, we were welcomed at the WOTCLEF center by Mrs. Atiku. This event brought out explained and celebrated the work of the foundation at the center. The foundation's board members, dignitaries, and locals were invited to be entertained by dancers, and announce Jermaine's visit to Nigeria. The Nigerian dancers were fantastic in all their splendor and artistic expression of festivity. The tour showed the work of the center in detail. A sewing room, a computer center, book room, and other learning centers were in place to teach the youth skills to become employable. Chita spoke to Mrs. Atiku about adding a library and multi-media distance learning center to the site, to which she responded that she was interested in such advancements.

In the evening, we went to Mrs. Atiku's WOTCLEF dinner that commemorated the work already done for women and children and to discuss the effects of AIDS and HIV on this population. Various international dignitaries were present and Jermaine was the honored guest. Academians told of Nigeria's challenges to eradicating HIV and AIDS, victims spoke of stigmatization and scarce and expensive anti-viral drugs, and documentaries showed how the virus ravages the lives of affected humans, their families, and the national stability. Jermaine read his speech detailing his interest in Africa, what he has planned through EarthCare International and the relevance of ADF. The speech transcript is attached.

On Saturday, December 6, 2003, we were driven to see the future site of the WOTCLEF center which covers about 12 acres. Her current site in Abuja is a small prototype site holding 24 children. The work and knowledge attained there will be utilized in implementing programs at the larger site which will house 1000 people. The site included a boy dormitory, a girls dormitory, school buildings, an athletics field, clinic, auditorium, and many other buildings.

Later in the evening we had dinner with Athiel Greenidge, our International Consultant, who helped make the trip possible.

We departed Nigeria on Sunday, December 7.

Overall, the trip was successful. We made many contacts and saw applications of ADF work in Nigeria. Pictures are available in our photo gallery.

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