By MUHYIDEEN JIMOH

The Attom Foundation, an NGO in collaboration with some African football legends will on Saturday play a Charity Champions Cup to raise funds for the eye treatment of over 10, 000 Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the much anticipated match is billed for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.

Reigning African footballer of the year, Victor Osimhen and some Super Eagles stars will join African legends like Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Ebue, among others.

Yahaya Atom, the Founder/CEO of Attom Foundation, disclosed this at a pre-match news conference on Friday in Abuja.

He said the charity match will go a long way in raising awareness about the plight of Nigerians in need of eye treatment.

He said the goal is to raise awareness and ultimately provide medical assistance to over 10,000 indigent Nigerians.

Attom who was represented by Emmanuel Ugonna, a comedian popularly known as Craze Clown, said the foundation has offered free surgery to over 2,000 Nigerians in Maiduguri as part of its outreach.

He said going forward, the foundation plans to have mobile eye clinics in each of the 36 states of the country in line with international best practices.

"Our plan is to have 36 mobile eye clinics across all states in the country where you can have eye tests, cataract surgeries and so on.

“Each of the mobile clinics costs 250,000 dollars so you can see what we are talking about, we have four already at the Lagos port,” he said.

Earlier, Super Eagles stand-in captain, Kenneth Omeruo urged Abuja fans to troop to the stadium to enjoy good football for a noble cause.

“When the foundation contacted me, I had no hesitation because am also involved in charity, especially as it involves the blind, my foundation is also supporting some schools.

“Abuja is also my city, so am proud to be part of this project, we have Jay Jay here, Kanu is here and a lot of other legends,” he said.

Dr Ozy Okonokhua, a public health optometrist and partner for the charity match decried the the lack of access to eye care/ treatment for most Nigerians, especially in the rural areas.

Okonokhua said about 84 per cent of blindness in Nigeria are preventable/ avoidable with early checkup, treatment or surgery.

He said the north-east and northern part of Nigeria has the highest number of people with blindness/visual impairment, stressing the need for all hands to be on deck to reverse this trend.

According to him, HMC is partnering with the Attom Foundation to raise awareness and give some intervention and free consultation to Nigerians in this regard.

Kafayat Shafau, popularly known as Kaffy, a dance instructor/fitness coach, who is the Project Director for the Foundation assured of a world class event on Saturday.

NAN reports that the event was graced by ex-internationals and celebrities. (NAN)

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