Two years after… N10bn Turai Yar’adua Cancer Centre yet to take off
The unusual traffic jam experienced that day on Airport Road, Abuja is not the sort that would be forgotten in a hurry. The reason? A fund-raiser organized by then First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’adua, towards establishing an International Cancer Center in Abuja, (ICCA) in 2009. But it is over two years now and nothing is […]
The unusual traffic jam experienced that day on Airport Road, Abuja is not the sort that would be forgotten in a hurry. The reason? A fund-raiser organized by then First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’adua, towards establishing an International Cancer Center in Abuja, (ICCA) in 2009. But it is over two years now and nothing is happening at the site of the project, believed to have come about as a result of a visit in 2008 to the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Texas by Mrs. Yar’adua herself.The N10 billion ICCA is a private initiative of Hajiya Turai Yar’adua whose funds were to be raised through a Public Private Partnership (PPP). The cancer centre, supposed to be first of its kind in West Africa, was allocated a large plot of land along the Airport Road. The stone-laying ceremony and fund-raiser took place in June 2009, with the project having a 10-month completion period. However, a visit by Weekly Trust revealed that two years after an elaborate launch and media campaign, the project itself is yet to take off. What lies on the site is the foundation, which was laid by ex-First Lady.
The proposed centre, when completed, should meet the standards of medical excellence and offer hope and succour to cancer patients and survivors. The project is also designed to help people detect cervical and prostrate cancers early enough for quick and effective treatment.
A total of 7.394 hectares of land was made available for the 108-ward centre, which will have 128 beds with a biomedical workshop and a training institute. It will provide services in the area of diagnosis, treatment and research. But two years after, the beautiful dream remains just that, a dream. “Apart from its stagnation, no one has said anything about the monies that were raised during the fund-raiser chaired by the former First Lady,” Mr. Okon Ameh, a civil servant with the Ministry of Health, observed.
Most state governors then at the occasion were falling over themselves to impress Mrs. Yar’adua. They committed huge state funds to this project, funds an analyst said would have been enough to resurrect some of the run-down public hospitals in their states and even send health workers on critical training courses.
What is also not clear is whether or not this project has not been part of a larger government plan for the health sector, for example in the National Strategic Health Development Plan Framework (2009-2015) or if it is a purely Turai’s dream which was never accommodated even in the health budget. Similarly little is known about the experts who formed part of the think-tank for the design and implementation of the project.
Expressing concerns over the Cancer Centre shortly after the fund-raiser, a UK-based Nigerian epidemiologist, Chikwe Ihekweazu, gave an idea of how Nigeria can gauge whether or not this project was well-planned. “We hope she was advised on how to build cancer education programmes across the country to inform people how to detect early tumours,” she said.
A source close to some of the members of the centre’s board told Weekly Trust that it has not been easy since the demise of the former president. “This initiative was supposed to be a private partnership thing which the former first lady took upon herself to start for the well-being of cancer patients in the country. But as it is now, the project has gradually been grounded as government has folded its hands on the issue. For this type of project to effectively take-off, a lot of money is usually involved. Apart from the money, there is also the issue of latest equipment procurement, trained staff and lots more. We also need professional hands from the western world. All this were in place but really after the death of the former president, things came to a standstill,” he said.
Another doctor working on the cancer initiative said one important fact is that the project is not a ten-month project as touted earlier, but a ten-year one. In addition, he said that the cancer centre might not have a structure on ground but that does not mean they have not been treating people. “We have patients and when they come we take them to National Hospital where we diagnose and start treating them. From these processes, our researches have started and we keep all these documentation for future use of the centre. So it is not right to say the project was abandoned.”
Weekly Trust sought to verify how the money raised that day had been utilized in the realization of the centre but all persons contacted declined to answer, insisting the Chairman Board of Directors of the centre, Senator Adamu Aleiro, was in the best position to answer questions regarding money issues and project contractors. He could not be reached for comment as he was said to be away on Umrah and would be back in time for a board meeting soon.
Shedding light on the N10 billion raised for the centre, Uchechukwu Amadi disclosed that less than one-third of the monies pledged have been redeemed and so it had hampered many things involving the centre’s take-off. “I would say most of the pledges were politically motivated. We also are waiting for the final approval from FCDA after we paid N26,824, 102.00 for building plans for the centre.” According to Amadi, last year, the centre donated drugs worth forty-six million naira to some major hospitals across the country and had an agreement with them that the drugs will be given free to patients. Sometime this year too, the center carried out free chemotherapy for over a hundred women at MedicAid and Garki hospitals all billed on ICCA’s purse, she said.
Weekly Trust also gathered that four construction companies have been selected for the construction of the centre and when the board members meet, they will take a decision. The project will be done in phases and the first phase is the 18-month plan. “It does not mean the centre does not exist, as we are gradually touching lives positively and silently,” Amadi concluded, even as cancer continues to ravage Nigerians.