Ugwuibe, Oparaoji, Ohanele, others donate half a million naira to Chioma Ajunwa Foundation

Pennsylvania, September, 25, 2021:

The Chioma Ajunwa Foundation recently received a half a million Naira (N0.5 million) boost as some citizens of Mbaise, Imo State, made the charitable donation to support the Foundation’s hosting of the 25th Anniversary of the star athlete’s “Atlanta 1996 Olympic Gold Jump.”

The anniversary and project launch will come up on Friday, October 8, 2021.

Now an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Dr. Chioma Ajunwa Opara (MON), had with her spectacular jump, won an historic, first ever Olympic Gold Medal for Nigeria in the high jump event at the Olympic Games of 1996 in Atlanta, USA.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the unforgettable feat, the Chioma Ajunwa Foundation, through its President/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Chioma Ajunwa Opara, had invited the Mbaise Policy RoundTable MPR, through its Chairman, Prof Eddie Oparaoji, as special guests to the event. The Foundation also appealed for support for the hosting of the event.

In response to the invitation and appeal, the MPR Chairman, Prof. Oparaoji, rallied citizens of Mbaise, who are mostly based in the United States of America (USA) to support Dr. Ajunwa, one of the greatest female sports personalities in Africa, a proud daughter of Mbaise and a member of MPR.

Professor Oparaoji’s outreach to a few members of the Mbaise community in the USA and Nigeria, including Dr. Maurice Ugwuibe, Professor Viola Onwuliri, Mr Casca Ohanele, Chief Hector Chilaka, and Herve Onuoha resulted in the raising of 0.5 million Naira in support of the Chioma Ajunwa Foundation.

Professor Oparaoji on behalf of MPR extolled the accomplished African sport personality, ACP (Dr) Chioma Ajunwa Opara, for the honor and glory she brought for Nigeria and prayed that God should continue to favor her. Prof. Oparaoji assured Chioma Ajunwa Foundation that MPR will definitely collaborate with it and support the project and congratulated Chioma Ajunwa and her Foundation for making Mbaise proud.

Chioma Ajunwa, a star athlete, started off initially as a football (soccer) player for the Nigerian women’s team but then made a transition to athletics. She then rocketed her athletics prowess into the African and then Olympic championship levels. The giant strides of the great athlete unlike her peers in other sports climes seemed to have been taken for granted until His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State redeemed the State’s 1996 pledge by handing over to her a 3 bedroom home, in Lagos State.

Following the gesture of the Lagos State government, Nigeria’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, Minister of State Education and former Imo State commissioner for Education, Professor Vola Onwuliri also commended the excellence and resilience of Dr Ajunwa, noting that, “ without minimal government support Chioma has demonstrated that hard work and taking your destiny in your hands is a winning combination. She is a role model for who she is and what she does for the development of our youths. She has an enviable profile that must be leveraged by any well-meaning communities in the world particularly Mbaise and indeed Imo State.”

In another development, Dr Ajunwa a seasoned law enforcement agent as well as sports enthusiast will be availing her vast experiences in law and order and youth development, as guest speaker, alongside former Governor of Imo State, His Excellency Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha and other powerful speakers at a major conference in Mbaise, on January 2, 2022. The theme of the conference is “Agriculture- a Strategic Pathway to Youth Empowerment and Mitigation of Insecurity in Rural Communities- the Case of Mbaise Nation”.