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The World AIDS Day celebrations were quite dramatic here in Abuja, Nigeria. While everyone was in the Conference room at the Yaradua Centre in Abuja listening to presentations from the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) Director General, the Chairman House Committee on HIV/AIDS, the Senate Committee Chair on Health and other relevant stakeholders and groups, a horde of people arrived, wailing and screaming at the tops of their voices and carrying a coffin with the name of the Director General (NACA). It was the PLWHAs, People Living With HIV/AIDS. They looked so fierce and scary. They had placards saying different things such as “Who holds HIV/AIDS funds?”, “NO PLWHAs, NO NACA” and “Where is the Meaningful Involvement?”. It was almost as if they had come to bring down the building.
Their campaign was against the DG. I had a brief interview with one of the men and he complained bitterly how there has been no meaningful involvement of PLWHAs in the activities of NACA. He explained how the PLWHAs were not even involved in any pre-meeting or planning of this year’s World AIDS Day, even though they have been in previous years. He exclaimed that it was a ploy for the DG to mismanage funds. He said they have been marginalized and ignored. Their demonstration was very aggressive.
With no offence to PLWHAs, I think that was way overboard. In my opinion, everybody who participated in that campaign came for their own PERSONAL benefit. I noticed there was no proper representation in terms of diversity (different social strata, states, age groups, etc); they were all adults, and quite a number of them didn’t even know why they were there. It was almost as if they had hired some people to join them in the campaign. But where were the young people? If young people are the most infected, shouldn’t there have been more in the demonstration? I think the PLWHAs should have done better in coordinating themselves and ensuring that the real people that are being infected and most affected were properly represented.
On the other hand, the Director General (NACA) should have involved the PLWHAs in the planning, as is normally done every year. World AIDS Day is usually commemorated at an open public square where everyone and anyone can easily participate, but this year’s was done in a small confined location that could barely contain half the participants. There weren’t enough seats, conference materials were limited and the whole arrangement was just a bad idea.
Considering the fact that this year’s World AIDS Day theme is Universal Access and Human Rights, I’m sorry to say it’s so ironic that the reverse is the case. The PLWHAs were not allowed to enter the hall unless they conformed, which they weren’t willing to do.
After much talk, the DG came out to address them. However, I believe that our leaders really need to think and rethink about these things. Who exactly do they think they are fooling? PLWHAs have rights, they deserve to be respected and the responsibility to plan and celebrate their day should be given to them without bias.
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