Free condom, HIV tests for Calabar Carnival Dry Run participants

By Edem Edem,

Calabar

The United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) on Sunday carried out several HIV tests and distributed packets of condoms free to members of the public that participated in the Calabar Carnival Dry run exercise as well as other Nigerians who witnessed the event.
The exercise took place at the Eleven Eleven Roundabout popularly known as Millennium Park.

Nigerians who received the free gifts were full of praises to the organization and urged the United Nations to step up its ‘wise up’ campaign.

The UNFPA according to our findings is fully involved in the 2016 carnival activities through its ‘wise up’ campaign.

In a chart with our correspondent, the Youths Programme Officer, Dr Araoyinbo Idowu, said that the narratives of UNFPA was delivering a World where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and every young people’s potential is fulfilled adding that the UNFPA will ensure that the narratives are achieved in the state.

Kick starting the Carnival Dry Run, the wife of the governor, Dr {Mrs) Linda Ayade noted that every year the carnival dedicated a theme to a particular subject and 2015 was dedicated to climate change and 2016 was also dedicated to climate change and commended the UNFPA for partnering with the state government in the area of ‘wise up’ campaign.

Earlier the state Chairman of Carnival Commission, Mr Gabe Unah, said that the dry run had been decentralised noting that the second kick off was performed by the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, John Gaul, the second by Deputy Governor, Prof Ivara Ezu, fourth by Chief of Staff to the Governor and fifth by Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly.