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From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The wife of the Kebbi State governor, Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, has stressed the need for more funding to fight the scourge of cancer to the barest minimum in the country.
According to her, cancer endemic requires more funds to fight because there is an imbalance in funding and the occurrence of cancer. “I have been able to let the people know that there is an emergency which we, the Nigerian people, need to do something about urgently.
“But some people believe that there is hunger in the society and hunger must be resolved before addressing cancer,” she said.
While calling on the relevant authorities for increased funding, she maintained the need for partnership to curb the menace of the dreaded disease.
She added: “But we must not give up. We would continue to work with the government to increase funding and preventive measures. We have started producing vaccines for cancer. We have gotten policies and interventions that were not there before.
“When I met President Muhammadu Buhari before going for my election at the International Cancer Union, all my requests on cancer were granted. The last one was granted a few weeks ago by the Director General of Nigeria Cancer institute. Now, we have one of our own as the DG of the cancer institute.
“So, it will take a while but Nigeria will get there. I can say cancer is a very big problem and Nigeria is not doing enough because of the size of the population we have. “We have to utilize partnership to create awareness at the grassroots. Kebbi State has done well in this aspect. We have a cancer clinic and experts.”
