By Our Reporter
In order to ensure that Nigeria gets it right in the fight against carcer, the House of Representatives has promised continuous support to the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) to enable it fight the disease to a stand-still in the country.
The Chairman, House Committee on Health Institutions, Hon. Amos Gwamna Magaji, gave the hint when members of his committee visited NICRAT for an oversight function on Thursday, in Abuja.
He lamented the devastating nature of cancer, which, he stressed, affects both the old the young.
The Lawmaker commended NICRAT management for their commitment in the fight against cancer, but, however, urged them to rise up and demonstrate capacity to spend budgeted funds judiciously for the procurement of equipment, research and awareness creation for the good of all Nigerians.
“Cancer care is our passion, that is why in 2025, you can see that the budget for cancer care has gone up significantly.
“You must be ready and also demonstrate that you have the capacity to procure the needed equipment and spend judiciously and in the right way the funds appropriated to you,” he reiterated.
Hon. Gwamna insisted that the National Assembly is interested in ensuring that cancer care receives the needed attention for the sake of poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
“No body that is seated here that has not probably has a family member, friend or relations that has suffered from cancer. It affects all of us.
“As an agency that is saddled with the responsibility of tackling cancer issues, you must rise up.”
He expressed optimism that with the quality and calibre of staff at the Institute, NICRAT has the capacity to tackle all the issues around cancer in the country, charging the management to “rise up and reposition this agency where it ought to be and let it fight cancer head-on.”
Hon. Gwamna noted that his committee will be glad if by their next visit, they see remarkable improvement in the area of research, treatment, screening, advocacy, awareness and new developments in the fight against cancer in the country.
“I want to assure that this Institute has come to stay. Even though we don’t want to rely on donor funding, but you have to explore other sources of getting assistance from research organisations and where you want us to put our voice, we will gladly do that so that we can fight cancer in this country,” he said.
The lawmaker applauded the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government for giving cancer care the needed attention, stressing that: “This is the first time the country is going to purchase Pepscan and Syclothrone and so on. This shows that the country is making progress even though we are not where we are supposed to be but we are not where we used to be.
“We are committed to supporting the Institute make progress for the good of all Nigerians. Let us know where you have challenges or hinderances to your work for us to intervene so that together we can deliver quality services to Nigerians.”
Earlier, the Director General of NICRAT, Prof. Usman Malami Aliyu, commended the House of Representatives Committee for the visit, noting that the Institute has enjoyed tremendous support and encouragement from the Committee.
He explained that the Institute is working hard to reposition cancer situation in the country through partnership with both local and international agencies in the area of research, training and retraining of oncology manpower and treatment.
Prof. Malami disclosed that the Institute trained over 1200 oncology manpower in all parts of the country in 2024 and that more will be trained in 2025.
