One negative about Nigeria is the fact that the country lacks effective data-bases that could be relied on for policy and development purposes. Almost all that is done is built on estimation. Thus, it would not be out of place to peg its population at 170 million currently.
And, based on this estimation, the World Health Organisation (WHO) believes that the country should have 170 centres for cancer, that dreaded ailment that continues to take a toll on various parts of the world. But how many are in existence? Again, how affordable are its treatment, especially in a country filled with indigents and high dependants on government?
Some of these thoughts may have prodded Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, the speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, to come up with the State’s Cancer Research Institute Law passed in 2017 and aimed at not just making Lagos another first in such efforts among states, but also making sufferers feel the impact of government through subsidized and affordable medical care. Read more
