US NBA star, Jerome Williams traces origin to Nigeria

A former United States US National Basketball Association (NBA) star, Jerome Williams has traced his origin to Nigeria.

William disclosed that a DNA test conducted by him to ascertain his origin revealed that he was 83 percent African and 32 percent Nigerian.

The former NBA star stated this in Abuja at the Power forward final; Health and fitness (basketball) initiative for youth development on public health and malaria prevention sponsored by Exxon mobile and Africare.

He said; “Well everybody knows I am from America, I am an African-American but for me what is that African part of my native tongue represents, I took my DNA test and I found out that I am 83 percent African meaning that different region of Africa represents me and run through my veins.

“So Nigeria was number one. I was 32 percent Nigerian over other African continents.”

He said, the four years running,  Power Forward initiative which is intended to enlighten African students on the importance of public health and skills development in basketball have

“This is my first time home, I really appreciate Power Forward program for what it is doing for the kids, it is really tremendous to be part of it. I thank the NBA, Exxon mobile and Africare for all they have done in the last four years working together to implement this programme throughout Nigeria.

“With the amount of kids that have participants in this programme, throughout the country and Africa I can see that the coaches put in a lot of time and energy in the game. You can see the development.

“When I first got here in 2005, it was not like that, these kids are almost likely touching basketball for the first time here you can see that over the course of time they had much time with the basketball, so they begin to love it more and that is why you grow the game and that is why they get better at a young age and work their way out.

“The message for me is simply strive to do your best in life, this programme is just more than basketball. It is a skill that is used for Education, lifes-skill, for development, disease prevention etc. These things are all brought together in the game of basketball, this game creates peace,” he added.

Earlier, the Country Representative of Africare, Dr Orode Doherty said it partnered with oil giant ExxonMobil, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) to mentor secondary school students in the country on public health, through the initiative, Power Forward.

According to her, the initiative had greatly improved knowledge base of the students on how to live healthy, prevent diseases and ensure good hygiene.

She said the focus of partner organizations had been mainly on malaria, and that the disease burden was declining in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where the initiative had been implemented for three years.

Doherty said that the initiative would continue to focus on developing life skills and public health knowledge among secondary school students.

However, she said funding challenges could not make the programme go beyond Abuja since it was launched, thus appealing to federal and state governments in the country to see the programme as what could help reshape the nation’s health systems, and therefore support it.

“The work of Power Forward is really to engage young students in the FCT to use basketball as a platform to learn about life skills and public health and (Sustainable) Development Goals.

“Malaria is one of the diseases that we focus on in Nigeria that the children know about. It is something that individuals can contribute to the eradication of it through individual behaviour.

“So, definitely, understanding that every fever needs to be tested, and every fever that is tested, using a rapid diagnostic test and found to be positive, needs to be treated with the use appropriate ACT. To prevent malaria, we ensure that the children have understanding of who vulnerable groups are, people who are at most risk of having malaria.

“We make them know that they should clean their environment and that insecticide bed nets are used in pregnant women and children.”