By Nkechi Onyedika-Ugoeze
As the world marks World Cancer Day, today, the multi-billion naira International Cancer Centre (ICC) located on Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport road in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is yet to take off 12 years after the project was established.
Mrs Turai Yar’Adua, wife of the late former president, Umaru Yar’Adua, once had a grand dream to build a cancer centre in the nation’s capital that would cater, especially for the poor.
The state-of-the-art cancer centre was conceived after the former First Lady’s visit to the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Texas, United States in 2008.
On July 18, 2009, she assembled the rich and powerful to a fundraising in Abuja, which was also attended by his usually taciturn husband, battling some complicated diseases at the time.
Financial pledges made by the galaxy of guests to actualise her dream amounted to N6.8 billion and the ICC was born.
But since then, apart from the imposing structure on the Umaru Yar’Adua Expressway, the project has now been completely abandoned.
The project was designed to be fully private driven and meant to provide comprehensive cancer diagnosis, management, treatment and care, as well as promoting excellence in cancer education, training and research.
Cancer is a major public health problem in Nigeria and the country records over 100,000 new cases of cancer yearly, while more than 70,000 Nigerians die yearly from cancer.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020.
The most common in terms of new cases of cancer were breast (2.26 million cases); lung (2.21 million cases); colon and rectum (1.93 million cases); prostate (1.41 million cases); skin non-melanoma (1.20 million cases) and stomach (1.09 million cases).
WHO disclosed that the most common causes of cancer death in 2020 were lung (1.80 million deaths); colon and rectum (935 000 deaths); liver (830 000 deaths); stomach (769 000 deaths); and breast, responsible for 685 000 deaths.
HOWEVER, 12 years down the line, the centre has remained like a ghost town with the multi-billion-naira equipment and mini-buses already procured for the project rusting away.
The massive compound was for a long time overtaken by weeds, which was later cleared while about 200 mini-buses parked at the open space in the middle of the compound were moved to a hidden side of the premises.
But amid the neglect of the centre, the Federal Ministry of Health has raised a memo directing its legal department to investigate how the former First Lady acquired the land on which the centre was sited and to ascertain whether the land was allocated to her NGO, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) or to the Federal Government.
When The Guardian visited the centre on Wednesday, there was no sign of activity there except one white utility vehicle, Hilux, seen driving into the arena.
Unlike most healthcare facilities, the entrance gate was locked and it took several knocks before a policeman guarding the place opened to find out who the visitor was and her mission.
After exchanging greetings, The Guardian told the officer that she came to find out whether the centre is already accepting patients and would like to see any of the staff who could provide information on procedures for booking an appointment, to which the policeman replied: “Oh, they have not started, but I believe they will start soon.”
The Guardian gathered that the centre’s inability to take off is a concern…
