“We can’t wait until it becomes a double burden. We plead for expansion in cancer research” said Salako who spoke on the Institute’s achievements and challenges in the last 8 years.
While applauding the government for increasing the institute’s allocation from N50 million to N20 billion, he emphasised the need for a research funding agency to support the Nigerian health system with funding for homegrown solutions.
Speaking on the achievements during his tenure, Salako said no fewer than 80,000 Nigerians have benefited from the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research’s (NIMR) efforts to reduce the prevalence of infectious diseases, particularly through the screening and diagnosis of HIV and COVID-19.
*As a reference research centre with an active HIV clinic, the institute played a crucial role in diagnosing the first cases of HIV and COVID-19 in Nigeria”
Salako emphasised the economic importance of NIMR to the healthcare sector, noting that the institute has tested approximately 65,000 Nigerians for COVID-19 and 25,000 for HIV, benefiting a total of 80,000 people with its homegrown solutions.
He noted that NIMR has significantly contributed to building the capacity of over 1,600 healthcare workers, including doctors, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and students.
“NIMR, being an HIV research centre and also running an HIV clinic programme, has screened over 25,000 patients in recent years. We also collaborated with the NCDC, Lagos State Government, and private organizations like LifeBank to establish the COVID-19 drive-through and walk-through testing centers, which tested about 65,000 Nigerians,” he said.
Prof. Salako explained that at the cost of N50,400 per COVID-19 test, substantial government and supporter contributions were essential to the success of these efforts. The institute developed two COVID-19 test kits and some extraction kits required for diagnosis beyond COVID-19, introducing innovations like do-it-yourself testing.
“Now, at the cost of N50,400 per COVID-19 test, you can imagine how much government and other supporters of ours should have put into that effort to make it a very successful one. Again, with that knowledge of the circulating variants, we were able to develop test kits for diagnosing COVID-19 at the time. We developed two test kits”, he affirmed.
The NIMR DG continued: “Over the past eight years, I can tell you that we’ve trained over 1,600 people, including students, doctors, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, etc. So our institution really has made its mark, even when we talk about training. And knowing fully well that government alone cannot sponsor or fund research, even though we expect more from government.
“And beyond that, the institute played a very significant role in terms of training the national workforce for the control of HIV. It played an important role in determining the efficacy of some antiretroviral drugs, especially when generic antiretroviral drugs were going to be introduced to Nigeria”, he stated.
Salako also highlighted other milestones achieved during his tenure, such as developing one to two minute test kits, using dispatch riders for kits delivery, diagnosing and treating multi drug-resistant TB, and discovering a new urban malaria vector.
A group, Team Nigeria, has commenced a nationwide campaign to educate and create awareness about cancer amongst students in schools.
The initiative, launched last week, is aimed at creating awareness, dispel myths and promote early detection of cancer among the youths.
The campaign kicked off with an engaging session at a school, Morette Ville Heights, Ladi-Lak, Bariga, Lagos.
Volunteers from Team Nigeria delivered informative talks and held interactive workshops with the pupils.
The pupils were taught about the signs and symptoms of various types of childhood cancers, the early signs and diagnosis, and available treatment options.
“Early detection can save lives,” he said, adding that by educating pupils, “we empower them to recognise warning signs and seek medical attention promptly”.
Alaka advised the students to always report to their parents anytime they notice a strange occurrence or boil in their body as it may be a trace of cancer, which might be mistaken for boil.
He advised them to eat good food as it is a good means of preventing cancer and taken good care of themselves.
Alaka emphasised that the disease is not only limited to adults but also children. “Cancer is not only limited to the adults. We can see it in the children too,” he said.
He admonished parents to always check on their children and seek appropriate advice from a professional medical doctor on how to cure it before it spreads in the body.
Team Nigeria plans to visit schools across the country, reaching thousands of students in both urban and rural areas.
Ambassador of Team Nigeria, Anjorin Temitope, emphasised the need to educate parents on cancer awareness as children are also prone to it.
In 2018, Brazilian pensioner João sought medical help after he found a wart on his penis.
“I started visiting medical clinics to find out what it was, but all the doctors told me it was due to excess skin and prescribed medication,” the 63-year-old recalls.
Despite the medication, the wart continued to grow. It started to take a toll on his marriage and João and his wife’s sex life declined. “We were like siblings,” he admits. He was determined to find out what was going on.
For five years, João went back and forth to specialists who prescribed more medication and ordered new biopsies. “Nothing solved it,” he says.
Then, in 2023, he was given a diagnosis – João had penile cancer.
“For my family, it was a very unpleasant surprise, even more so because I had to have part of the penis amputated. I feel like I was decapitated,” he says.
“It’s a type of cancer that you can’t talk about with people because it could turn into a joke.”
Penile cancer is rare, but incidences and mortality rates are on the rise around the world.
According to the latest studies, Brazil, where João is from, has one of the highest incidence rates of 2.1 per 100,000 men.
Between 2012 and 2022, there were 21,000 reported cases, according to Brazil’s Ministry of Health. This resulted in more than 4,000 deaths and, over the past decade, there have been more than 6,500 amputations – averaging two each day.
Maranhão, the poorest state in Brazil, was found to have the highest incidence rate globally at 6.1 per 100,000 men.
Early detection and treatment of the various types of known cancers has been identified as the key to achieving cure.
The International College of Surgeons, Nigeria, Section, disclosed this at the end of its 2024 AGM/Scientific Conference, with the theme, ‘Current Trends and Challenges to Surgical Oncology Practice, and Sub-themes; Insecurity and Delivery of Surgical Services and Minimal Access Surgery.’
While early detection and treatment are key to achieving a cure, the ICS-NS, however, said therapy also exists to improve the length and quality of life of late presenters, in whom cure is no longer possible.
The college called for significant government support to ameliorate specialised cancer care which is capital-intensive globally. This will give the masses access to quality care.
The ICS-NS, also expressed worry over the inequitable distribution of experts and facilities for cancer care, with the complete absence of high-end specialised services in Akwa Ibom and many other states across the federation, lamenting that even the regular screening programmes for the few cancers that have reliable early detection tests have not been well implemented.
Medical experts have called on women and girls to ensure regular cervical cancer screening as a sure way of early detection and successful treatment.
The call was made during a Zoom meeting organized on Sunday by AIDS Healthcare Foundation AHF Nigeria and her partners; John Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics, (JHPIEGO), National Agency for the Control of AIDS, (NACA), Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) and GirlsAct, on the theme, “Understanding Cervical Cancer and Its Intersection with HIV.”
According to AHF Nigeria Advocacy and Marketing Manager, Steve Aborisade, Cervical cancer and HIV are significant public health issues that disproportionately affect women, particularly in resource-limited settings.
He said the meeting was organized to acquaint participants with information on the relationship between the two conditions; HIV and cervical cancer, to discuss preventive measures, and to share the latest research and strategies for effective management and support.
During the meeting, the panelists; Dr George Ikaraoha, Mrs Menakaya Atenchong, Nurse Omoseke Bamijoko and Dr Lois Maji gave some insightful and informative messages urging women, especially young women to prioritize their health by going for early screening, accessing vaccines as well as shunning lifestyles that exposes one to HPV disease.
Speaking during the meeting, the Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program (CECAP) Advisor with JHPIEGO, Dr George Ikaraoha, identified key factors contributing to cervical cancer development to include Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection, early sexual activity and multiple sexual partners, smoking and immune system deficiency.
He also identified long-term use of oral contraceptives, having many children, and socio-economic factors like lack of access to healthcare facilities, poverty and inability of women and girls to afford health care services, lack of education and access to right information and cultural beliefs like stigma.
He advised that regular screening is crucial as it allows for the detection and treatment of precancerous conditions before they develop into cervical cancer.
Ikaraoha said by understanding the risk factors and adhering to recommended screening schedules, women can significantly reduce their risk of developing cervical cancer and improve their chances of successful treatment if cancer does occur.
Nurse Omoseke Bamijoko, an ART nurse with AHF, who also harped on the importance of early diagnosis said cervical cancer can be treated if discovered early.
She said women living with HIV are more prone to Cervical cancer and as such should go for screening every three years while other can be screened every five years.
While admonishing the Nigerian public to stop stigmatizing victims to enable them access health care, Omoseke urged women and girls to see a health professional when they see symptoms like unusual bleeding between periods, after menopause or after sexual intercourse, increase in foul-smelling vaginal discharge, persistent pain in the back, leg or pelvis, weight loss, fatigue and loss of appetite, vaginal discomfort as well as swelling in the legs among others.
In their separate remarks, a senior nursing officer with AHF, Mrs Menakaya Atenchong and and Dr Lois Maji, a Program Officer with IHVN advised young girls take advantage of the federal government’s programme and get themselves screened also also get vaccinated.
They noted that early detection would not only reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Nigeria but would also prevent genital warts and other genital growths in women and girls.
The speakers also called for public education and awareness Programs, affordable healthcare Services, engagement of community leaders and utilizing culturally sensitive approaches can help address cultural barriers and stigma, Strengthening Healthcare Systems, by investing in healthcare infrastructure, particularly in rural and low-income areas to enhance the availability and quality of cervical cancer screening and treatment services.
They also stated that social and economic determinants of the diseases should be addressed to reduce disparities in cervical cancer incidence and improve health outcomes for all women.
Over 160 participants from across the country joined the meeting.
First Ladies across Africa have joined forces to accelerate cancer prevention and treatment.
They are focusing on promoting early detection and treatment to reduce the disease in the continent.
The First Ladies announced their resolve to battle the disease during the third Regional Seminar on Cancer Awareness, hosted by the Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, yesterday in Abuja.
The seminar, which is being attended by First Ladies from member-states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), aims to share knowledge and mobilise resources to combat cancer, particularly breast and cervical cancer, among women.
In a statement by her spokesperson, Busola Kukoyi, Senator Tinubu emphasised the need to reverse the grim statistics of cancer prevalence in Nigeria, which has shown that 127,763 new cases and 79,542 deaths were recorded in the past year alone.
Addressing the seminar, the First Lady said while President Bola Tinubu had fully taken up the diagnostic and treatment component of cancer care, she would lead the advocacy to promote innovative approaches to its prevention and early detection.
She expressed her commitment to promoting innovative approaches to cancer prevention and early detection with a focus on reducing late presentation and improving treatment outcomes.
“My major interest is to reduce the prevalence of late presentation in order to improve treatment outcomes. Reports from various cancer registries in the country, which have been corroborated by Globocan Data reports, showed that there were 127,763 new cancer cases and 79,542 deaths within the year. Also, the prevalent cases of cancer over a period of five years in the country stood at 269,109.
“Globocan shows that cervical cancer is the second commonest cancer among women in Nigeria. Fortunately, it is preventable and curable when detected early. This has led to my stand in championing preventive measures and early detection approach to all preventable and curable cancers in Nigeria,” Senator Tinubu said.
House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas stressed the need to enact a National Cancer Act.
He said with the First Ladies taking the lead in the advocacy, he was sure the outcome would be more positive.
The First Lady of Turkey, Emine Erdogan, urged Africans to promote good dietary system and leverage their rich medicinal resources.
Presenting situation reports on cancer management in their various countries, the First Ladies from OIC African member-states, including Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Islamic Republic of Mauritania, emphasised the need to forge alliances and raise awareness on the deadly disease.
After the seminar and its technical session, the Abuja Declaration was made by Senator Oluremi Tinubu while the other First Ladies appended their signatures.
The resolutions of the Declaration include improved funding, heightened advocacy, and improved collaboration between member-states.
The Federal government is in discussions with a Netherlands-based cancer equipment manufacturer to potentially introduce Oncoseek, a cancer detection machine, in Nigeria to enhance early detection efforts in the country’s fight against cancer.
According to data from the Global Cancer Observatory, Nigeria recorded 127,763 new cancer cases and 79,542 deaths in 2022.
For both sexes, the data showed that breast cancer had the most figures with an estimated 32,278 cases (25.3 percent); followed by prostate cancer with 18,019 cases (14.1 percent); cervical cancer with 13,676 (10.7 percent); colorectum cancer with 8,114 (6.4 percent); Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer 5,194 (4.1 percent); and others 50,482 (39.5 percent).
Peter Kapirein, President of Inspire2live, the organization behind the equipment, while stressing the importance of early detection in addressing the challenge of cancer, said early detection, which is only possible if people submit themselves to examination early is the value Oncoseek is bringing to the table.
Oncoseek, an artificial intelligence algorithm with the ability to detect nine types of cancer from just one tube of blood, achieves an impressive accuracy of 84.3% in producing a cancer probability score.
Kapirein spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ awareness and sensitization meeting organized by the Partnership for Eradication of Cancer in Africa (PECA), where he said awareness about early detection is critical to combating cancer.
He said: “To make a difference in early detection of cancer because the sooner the detection of cancer, the better the chances for curation and from what I understood from, most people come in at the late stage to the hospital and when you come in at late stage, there are almost no options anymore for treatment or for curation.
“But if the patient comes in early at stage 1 or 2, then quite often, the surgeon or the radiotherapist can do a good job which means that these people, when you get them, as soon as possible to the position being diagnosed, then they get a lot of options for a good quality of life.
“This is where this equipment is critical to the cancer question
“The machine analyzes the blood for nine types of cancers, uploads the data and scores the result based on percentages of no danger of cancer, rechecks between three to six months and a need for confirmative diagnosis”.
Kapirein expressed his satisfaction with the enthusiasm shown by both the Federal government and the private sector after productive discussions regarding the deployment of Oncoseek in the country.
“The Nigerian government is very interested in the equipment that has been deployed in other countries in Europe and Africa.
“We were at the National Hospital and they were very eager to have it. The private sector has shown great reception for the equipment and I’m optimistic that we might start to deploy them from this year”, Kapirein added.
He also stated that Nigeria is being given special consideration by the manufacturers being in the bracket of the Low and Medium Income Countries (LMICs) to make the easy-to-use equipment accessible and affordable.
The President of the Defence and Police Officers’ Wives Association (DEPOWA), Oghogho Musa, in the group’s goodwill message at the meeting, described Oncoseek as a proactive step to combat cancer
“We are certain that this new innovation, ONCOSEEK, will bridge identified gaps because of its unique ability to detect various other cancers not only breast and cervical cancers.
“This will most certainly increase the impetus in the drive for early detection, early treatment and a positive health outcome and wellbeing”, she said.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, PECA’s President, Benjamin Ogbalor noted that the innovative diagnostic tool couldn’t have come at a better time, given the rising burden of cancer in the world and with particular reference to Nigeria.
While he noted that cancer is now the second leading cause of death globally resulting in severe physical, emotional and financial strains on individuals, families, communities and the health systems, Ogbalor pointed out that cancer-related deaths and the financial burden it exerts can be significantly reduced when cancers are detected early.
“It is therefore the collective responsibility of men and women of goodwill to be part of the effort to create the awareness on the imperative of early-detection of cancer and to be part of the advocacy to battle the scourge of cancer in the world”, he said.
Explains how Nigerian civil war turned Igbo into business people
Reveals plans to revive moribund TV station, Minaj
His agility and dexterity belie his age. Second Republic Senator, Mike Ajegbo, who turned 75 today, is a living testimony of grace. And he is, indeed, grateful because he has survived situations that most men could not deal with. A man who had a bullet stuck in his body for close to 30 years, survived prostate cancer at a frightening stage and overcame the dreaded COVID-19 infection together with his wife and son should have every reason to be thankful. In this interview, Ajegbo speaks about his political career, his time in the Biafran Army and his plans to revive his television station, Minaj Broadcast International (MBI), the first television station on satellite in Africa and Europe, among other issues. He spoke with SAM ANOKAM.
How have you managed to remain scandal-free as a politician?
My background would explain the person that I am. My father was the first attorney general of eastern Nigeria. He became a judge of the Supreme Court in 1964 and came to Lagos, then went back to the east during the Nigerian crisis. I was born in 1949. In the 50s, where I was growing up in Onitsha, when men saw a woman they wanted to marry, like some people do these days, they send them to the university. Then, they sent them to where they could learn a trade. My mother used to have a lot of people sent to her. She would teach them how to sew, bake and all that. In short, my background meant that I had a family name to protect, so, I could not afford to do anything to mess it up. I think that influenced my life.
My elementary school was at Holy Trinity School, Onitsha. My secondary school was Christ the King College, Onitsha. Then I went to do higher school at Government College Akpugo. That was when the war broke out, so I didn’t finish but ended up entering the Biafran army and was commissioned as an officer.
I had a bullet wound which I carried in my body for almost 30 years. I had a shrapnel wound. Then after the civil war, I took entrance exam into University of Ife and University of Nigeria, and I passed the two to read Law. We decided that I should go to the University of Ife so that I would be out of the war environment and see how the rest of the country was doing. I graduated in 1974. I entered in 1970, did a four year course then came to Lagos for the Nigerian Law School after which I went to do my youth service in then Benue Plateau State between 1975 and 1976. I then came into Lagos and started legal practice.
In 1979, four of us –Abuka, Jibue, Iloga and Nwaorgu- teamed up to form a law firm. I was a partner in the law firm. In the law firm, President Babangida came up with opening up the media. I applied and I was one of those given licences for television station. I started Minaj Broadcast. It was the biggest partnership then in Nigeria. Most of the time, they had single practitioners, though they employed juniors. Ours came out as the biggest partnership at that point in time. Another partnership that was interesting at that point in time was the Odujiris: Ade Odujiri, Adefulo and Ayelaja. But we were four, they were three. We became the biggest and, of course, we made a lot of waves in legal practice then.
When I got my licence, I started my media. From there in 1988, even before I got my licence, I was a nominated as member of the Constituents Assembly. Also in 1994/95, I was also nominated as member of the constitutional conference. The Constituent Assembly was under President Babangida while Constitutional Conference was under General Abacha. Then in 1999, I won election to the Senate. I was in the senate for four years.
When I left the Senate in 2003, I didn’t want to go back into politics for a number of reasons including the feeling that my business was suffering. But funny enough, instead of doing that, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For five years, I was battling cancer. I am a cancer survivor as at today. After that issue, I started again. My wife also is a lawyer. She has a law firm. I teamed up with her. We have offices in Lagos and Abuja.
When I left to do my broadcast business, our law partnership, after a while, didn’t work out again. One of our partners, Mr. Nworgu is now late. The other gentleman, Mr. Chidi Ilogwu, is now a learned silk and Mr. P.C. Abuka is a big businessman. After my cancer, I got back into business and my law practice.
Tell us about your political life and the process by which you became a lawmaker.
When I was in University of Ife, I was elected as the Secretary General, National Union of Nigerian Students. I was active in student politics. The two are actually related because there is something that has been happening in Nigeria: the fact that we had had so many military interventions and whenever the military came in, the only arm that suffered was the legislature. They became the supreme military council or whatever it was. They made laws. They are the executives but they make laws. But under a democratic set-up, you have the executive, the judiciary and the legislature.
In actual fact, the number one is supposed to be the legislature because they make laws. Everything is based on laws. What the executive is supposed to do is to execute the laws made by the National Assembly (legislature) while the judiciary interprets these laws. And what lawyers do basically is to plead before the courts that this is the law and this is how it should be interpreted. The opposing lawyer either agrees or disagrees, then the judge takes a decision. If you are a lawyer by training, it is easy for you to identify the good laws that should be retained or made and those laws that shouldn’t be retained.
You made reference to the Biafra war in which you were an active soldier. Before the civil war, how was the relationship between the major ethnic groups in the country? Did the war alter the relationship between the Igbo, the Hausa and the Yoruba?
When the war started, I was 18 years and in secondary school. The crisis started in 1966. The war itself began in 1967. My perception then could not be used as a yardstick. When the crisis started, it didn’t mean much to us young people until we started seeing the exodus of people moving back from the north to the east. Many of those people tried to trace their relatives and where they are from. It sort of destabilised the system.
For some of us that joined the army, it is true, there was a cause for Biafra, but the major thing is that we were trying to protect ourselves because the fear at that time was that the soldiers were coming to eliminate us. Some of us took the decision that I’d rather die by fighting than die doing nothing. And the Asaba massacre in a way justified the fears of so many people. There were so many mixed feelings. When the war started, the issue of sectionalism in eastern region wasn’t obvious than when the war started going wrong. And you know in all human situations, when you are not getting what you thought you would get, you will start looking for excuses. Some of the things that happened to alienate the Igbo man from the Ijaw man or the Efik man were most unnecessary. But it has happened and it has happened.
Some people blamed different actors for what happened, but the matter was that easterners were being killed in the north and we came back home. Nobody can deny that. But at the end of the day, Gowon declared no victor, no vanquished. And that encouraged a number of people to go back to their previous stations.
Another interesting thing that happened out of the war economically was the issue of flat 20 pounds for anybody who had pounds in the bank. That thing came up and it affected a lot of Igbo people. But the recovery was based on one fact. They had three divisions of the Nigerian army. The first division was pushing down from the north to Enugu area, the second division was pushing from the west into Onitsha area, then the third division was coming from the riverine areas. So, at the end of the war, you had the three divisions stationed in the east, basically Southeast.
Three interesting things happened. Every month they got paid their field allowance. Suddenly, people started getting money. I know how soldiers spend money. By the end of the month, he has finished his money and owing in expectation of his salary for the following month. That started empowering the people of the Southeast. It was not planned. And these soldiers were stationed there for quite a while. Before you knew it, the average person from the Southeast could survive. And it enhanced the trading capabilities of people from the Southeast because he had to trade to make quick money.
Another thing that happened was that a lot of the Nigerian soldiers, including former President Babangida, ended up marrying people from that area. So, the issue of reconciliation in a way started happening without even being planned. And then, one other thing that happened was that it started affecting the education system in the Southeast. Trading then became more important. It is not too long ago that awareness was created as to why people should go to school.
One other thing that happened simultaneously after the war was the issue of oil business. The oil hit Nigeria up to the extent that our then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon said that money was not our problem but how to spend it. Then that led to so many things. When the government now decided to resettle the soldiers in various areas, they started ordering cement to build barracks and funny enough, the Ministry of Defence was in charge of that. A mistake was made; they took the agreement of one person without taking into account a number of other things. Before you knew it, they had over a hundred ships bringing cement to Nigeria.
I don’t know if you have heard about cement armada. Our ports were blocked. That gave rise to the building of Tin Can Island ports. However, the depths of the Port Harcourt and Calabar ports weren’t enough to accommodate big ships. All the ships carrying cement were heading to Apapa. These are my personal opinion about the consequences of what happened.
Let us talk about your time in the Senate. Now senators are collecting as much as N500m as constituency allowance. Was it so during your time at the Senate?
Let me explain that, because whenever I hear about it I get upset. This issue started during our own time. You know many Nigerians are not very literate. When you win, one of the things they expect is development in your area, and you have legislators from all parts of the country. There was a negotiation with the executive that for each constituency, they should vote an amount of N500m to do a job in the constituency. That money was not meant for the senators or members of the house. That money is residence with the ministry.
What happened during my own time was that I held a meeting with the members of the house from my senatorial district and we agreed that what should be done there would be boreholes. We now wrote to the Ministry of Works that the N500m allocated should be used for this, and I was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters and part of my duties were to ensure about the constitution. I continued emphasising it when I was in the Senate.
If you look at the house, you would see it is not the duty of any legislator to execute any project. It is the duty of the executive. But as the legislator, you have to vote money for projects to be carried out. During my time, there was no legislator that was involved in the disbursement of money. What happened thereafter, I cannot vouch for them. But at my own time, we had people in the Senate who meant well. Take for example Anambra where I come from. We had Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, myself, Dr. Ori Obula. Then from Abia, you have people like Gen. Ike Nwachukwu and others from different parts of the country. We had people of substance. The issue between 1999 and 2003 was to put the government on a sound footing after the military rule so that the military doesn’t have any reason to come back. This issue of N500m is not money meant for senators; it is money meant for projects to be executed in a senatorial district.
What was your take home at that time?
Honestly, I cannot remember. But it was a ridiculous amount like N7,000 or thereabout. I never even bothered touching it, I had a business. I had to check to know exactly the amount plus allowances here and there. We didn’t pay ourselves, based on the constitution. The revenue mobilization committee decided how much we were paid. So, we did not fix our salaries. At our own time, the revenue allocation and mobilization committee was responsible for that. That is what the constitution says.
When the military was in power, there were some visible things that we could see. But with democracy, we cannot see anything except looting here and there. How did we get here?
Looking at it from the outside, because I left that place in 2003, a number of things happened. One, we never from then till now had a visionary leader, somebody who says I want to take Nigeria from here to there. The only person that tried to do something was Chief Obasanjo. He had been a head of state, so he came with some experience. But the experience he came with was enough to start to stabilise things but not enough to push Nigeria out of where it is into a developed economy.
The only person who didn’t make it but I was happy with what he said was Peter Obi. He has a basic philosophy to move the country from consumption to production. At least he knows where he wants to go and how he wants to get there. Whether he could have achieved it is a different thing. The other contestants, I cannot tell you I understood where they want to move us to. Our present president has had a stint as governor of Lagos State. He had an idea on how to develop Lagos State, but he didn’t communicate to Nigerians what he wants to do for Nigerians. What was being said was that because he developed Lagos State, he would develop Nigeria, but I don’t think the two can work. But whether we like it or not, he is now the President of the country, so we must do what we can to ensure he succeeds, because if he succeeds the country succeeds.
I like us to give him constructive criticism. We are no longer running an election, now it is the issue of governance, how to get Nigeria out of the mess we are in. But if you look backwards, the only person I have seen who had an idea of what he wanted to do and came into the scene was President Babangida. At least up to the time of Orkar coup, he had brilliant ideas. But still a lot of things went wrong, because if you ascend the throne by battle, you have to ensure you maintain loyalty of the people around you, and in trying to maintain their loyalty a lot of things may go wrong.
What happened to Minaj?
I told you that I was diagnosed of prostate cancer. But before then, I wanted to establish an African network. I was on satellite; the first television station on satellite and I was the first in Europe. That happened in 1998 when Abdusalami announced his political programme. That was when I was building Minaj. I wanted to build an African network. I had an arrangement with a company called PANAMSAT in those days to give us receivers which we were going to put round African countries. I put in some places and those ones have gone like in Cameroon, Namibia, Kenya, even Ghana. I was in Kenya with my team when my wife, who was in London, called me to say Chief Alex Ekwueme called. He wanted to see me but I was in East Africa. He said I should try and call him, and she gave me his number, so I called him.
We started talking and he asked why I was not in Nigeria to register because registration was ongoing. I said I purposely left Nigeria because if I registered, I would end up being dragged into politics. But if I don’t register, I will not vote and I will not be voted for. He kept me on the phone for over an hour telling me why I must go and register. He told me that late Abubarkar Rimi also told him the same thing. He had to convince me to go and register. Anyway, I called my team, telling them we had to cut short our trip because we had visited Uganda and Zambia trying to build up alliances. We flew back To Nigeria.
I wanted to go back to the east, but by the time I got back to Lagos, I decided to stay put because if I went to the east to register, that is governorship waiting for me to come and contest for. I registered in Lagos, so I couldn’t contest for governorship. But eventually, having registered in any state in the federation, you can run for a federal post. That was why I was able to run for Senate.
At that point in time, Minaj had English Premier League, Bundesliga, Minaj and NFL. Part of the arrangement was for me to have an African station and I would now sublet the rights to different people around Africa. We were already in negotiation with some people in East Africa, South Africa and even Cameroon to allow them to download the matches. I came back, registered and then travelled to see Ekwueme in London. When I got there, he had left for the U.S. I then went to see him in Washington.
Then, the father of my very good friend died. That was in December 1998. We went to the village and it was there that they convinced me to run for the Senate. And PDP nomination was closing January 20. I abandoned everything I was doing to get the PDP nomination. I had very tough people contending with me, like the late Ani Okonkwo, Chris Ngige, the late Mark Okoye, then Architect Ejikeme and myself. I couldn’t leave Obosi, and during that period, I forgot I didn’t sign off for English Premier League. They were looking for me for two weeks. That was how I lost the English Premier League. That was one major thing that hit Minaj. I then faced politics.
I won the Senate seat and went to the Senate. One of my executive directors I thought would have captured my vision didn’t really get it right. Then my wife took over to stabilise it. When I got back from the Senate in 2003, I told myself I would rebuild it. After all, I was the one that built it. But I was diagnosed of prostate cancer and I forgot about everything to fight cancer. Five years later when I got myself, I decided to get people to run the place. Some young men came to me that they would run the place. We signed a management agreement for them to go and manage the place; I didn’t realise they were fronting for some people. After a while, they started saying that they had taken over Minaj. I got upset and decided to shut it down.
When I tried to revive it, it wasn’t working out. But there is one interesting thing about broadcasting in Nigeria. In the developed world, the media is divided into two: government owned media and commercial. The way government owned earns its money is not the way private media earns its money. Private media depends on commercials but government owned media depends on funding from government. Take for example, the BBC. People pay TV licence. In Nigeria, the government medium get funded through the budget and they still collect money for commercials, and because it is government, they have a bigger reach. So, people would rather patronise them because an advertiser is not interested whether you are private or commercial, he wants to get his message across, and how does he reach the biggest market? It is through the government media. You as an individual are competing with government.
That is the story of Minaj. But if God grants me more life, before I quit the scene, I would want to revive Minaj. And I have plans for it. God willing by next year, I will put things together.
Do you have any regrets looking back?
I don’t regret anything. I have this sense of self contentment. I am happy with myself. Oyinbo people have a saying that water has passed under the bridge, so, if you start regretting, where will you stop, where will you even start? It has happened, it as happened. Take it that way, look at the future.
It is very obvious that you do not look your age, with your personality and everything else, how do you cope with women?
I told you something, I have this sense of self contentment. I shut down my phone. I had about 124 lines blocked. I don’t know if it has increased. I am not a monk though. One philosophy I always have from time is that I enjoy it better when I chase a woman and succeeds. But unfortunately, at this age, what are you trying to prove?
At 75, what are you most grateful for?
I am having a thanksgiving service. I am thanking God for a healthy life. God has saved me in both big and small occasions. One, during the civil war, I had bullet wounds, I could have died. I had cancer and the PSA was over 40, when once it is 10, it is trouble, I survived it. I had COVID-19, myself, my wife and one of my kids, and we survived it.
A brilliant beacon of hope and expertise in pediatric oncology, Dr. Adedayo Joseph, consultant clinical radiation oncologist and Research Programme Director at the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre (NLCC), acknowledges childhood cancer’s distinct challenges and complexities. Childhood cancer, unlike other forms of the disease, affects children and adolescents up to the age of 19. Beyond her clinical duties, Dr. Joseph, with a special interest in cancers that affect children and women, advocates tirelessly for increased resources, better infrastructure, and heightened awareness in Nigeria. Dedicated to innovative solutions, she stands as a steadfast ally for young cancer patients and their families, illuminating a path toward improved care and brighter futures. She spoke with Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF
The most prevalent childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), often termed blood cancer, predominantly affects white blood cells. In Nigeria, Wilms tumor, a type of Nephroblastoma, is common. Medical terminology insight reveals that “nephrons” filter urine in the kidney, while “blast” signifies immature cells. When nephron cells proliferate abnormally as blastomas, they impair organ function and disrupt normal cells, leading to tumors. Other childhood cancers include sarcomas (soft tissue or bone), neuroblastomas (nerve cells), and hepatic blastomas (liver cells). Unlike adult cancers linked to lifestyle factors, pediatric cancers often originate from prenatal events and lack screening measures. Unlike adults, where screening detects common cancers like prostate, cervical, colon, and breast cancers, early detection in children relies on recognising symptoms promptly and seeking specialised treatment. This approach significantly improves survival rates, as pediatric cancers stem from immature cells, differing fundamentally from adult cancers. Therefore, timely intervention by qualified experts remains pivotal in achieving favorable outcomes for childhood cancers.
In cancer treatment, the mantra “early detection saves lives” holds particularly true. The analogy of cancer growth likened to a mathematical progression underscores the urgency of catching it in its nascent stages. By the time a tumor becomes visible on imaging scans, it has often burgeoned to over a billion cells or more, signifying a substantial proliferation. However, prompt intervention, such as surgical excision, can often suffice at this juncture. Yet, as cancer advances, its management grows increasingly intricate. When tumors metastasize to lymph nodes or adjacent organs, the therapeutic approach necessitates a more comprehensive strategy. What might have previously entailed the removal of a portion of an organ now demands the excision of entire structures, often accompanied by meticulous dissection of surrounding vasculature. Even so, the risk of leaving behind residual cancer cells looms large, potentially leading to recurrence and further metastasis.
The progression from localised disease to widespread metastasis fundamentally alters the treatment landscape. At this juncture, surgery alone is often inadequate, prompting the adoption of systemic therapies. These interventions, typically administered intravenously or orally, traverse the bloodstream to reach cancer cells scattered throughout the body. While effective, they also pose a conundrum: the collateral damage inflicted on healthy tissues by these potent agents, resulting in a spectrum of adverse effects ranging from mild to severe.
In cases of extensive metastasis, the sheer burden of disease renders curative attempts unfeasible. Instead, the focus shifts towards palliation and long-term disease control. Such an approach acknowledges the limitations of current therapies while striving to optimise quality of life for patients battling advanced cancer. Transitioning from the clinical to the socio-economic realm, the Nigerian context underscores the multifactorial barriers to timely cancer diagnosis and treatment. Despite a propensity to seek healthcare for their children, adults often prioritise their familial and occupational responsibilities over attending to their own health concerns. Moreover, the pervasive issue of misdiagnosis, particularly prevalent in resource-limited settings, exacerbates delays in accessing appropriate care. In essence, the narrative of cancer care converges on the pivotal role of early detection. Whether in the intricate theatre of treatment modalities or within the socioeconomic fabric of healthcare access, the imperative remains unchanged: to detect and intervene before cancer’s inexorable march renders its eradication an elusive pursuit.
The second problem we have is cost of treatment because we don’t have insurance coverage for many Nigerians. Every time someone goes to the hospital with their child who is not well, they have to pay out of pocket for CT scan, blood test, etc. Because of that high cost of treatment and the general financial strain in society, people are afraid to go and look for healthcare in conventional places. Therefore, many times they seek healthcare from what they consider to be more affordable and accessible to them but those places do not have the expertise to find that this is a cancer and it is time for the child to see a pediatric oncologist. For those reasons, those of us who are working in the teaching hospitals and know how to treat it, don’t tend to see these children until they come with stage four disease that can no longer be cured, no matter how much money there is available to spend, and no matter what part of the world they would take the child to for treatment and that is the importance of early detection. If we were able to discover them and create a system that provides access to them when things are still early, we will begin to change our survival rates in Nigeria.
Misconceptions surrounding childhood cancer
There are many of them. One of it is that mother’s lifestyle could cause childhood cancer or something she did in pregnancy is what caused it. This is something that we see a lot, and it can really be heartbreaking and quite unfair and again, inaccurate in 99 per cent of cases. To the mother, it’s not something she did, it is not because she took folic acid or she didn’t take folic acid. If that were the case, then we would have a lot more cases. There are many pregnant women who would then have a child with cancer because of this or that. It is not mother’s fault, it is something that happens at the level of the cells at the point where they’re being formed and there is nothing a mother could have done to prevent it.
The second thing is that a child can survive cancer, that’s another myth. People feel that cancer is so severe and that it is just this scary condition. Even adults are dying from it, how then can a child possibly survive it? I am very happy to tell people that survival rates are far better in childhood cancers than in adult cancers. There are cancers in children, for which, we don’t even discuss survival anymore, if you are in a high resource setting. Survival is taking for granted, what they didn’t talk about is reducing side effects, making sure that they can maintain quality of life over a long time, making sure to preserve the child’s fertility. So they’ve sorted out the issue of survival. Yes, they are one or two that don’t have excellent survival rates, but in general, cancer in children actually has better survival than cancer in adults. We are able to use doses of chemotherapy in children that an adult is not able to withstand also there are techniques that work in children that adults are not even able to use.
Another myth I would like to address is that cancer can somehow spread that, for me, is one of the most devastating ones, because you see some children who have developed hands that tell you that they are neighbours, or their friends at school have been told to avoid them, the children on the streets don’t play with them anymore and when they come around they show them away because and their parents told them to stay away from that child because they are afraid that the child will somehow infect their own child. I know it comes out of fear, and that fear comes from a place of ignorance that is why we must continue to educate. Cancer is not something that can be spread. It’s not contagious because one child has cancer does not mean that the child playing with him is now also going to get cancer. That can just be cruel to the psychology of a child who is going through it.
I think I would start with research. We need to generate our own data, we need to even know how many children are developing cancer in Nigeria., where do they live? What are the barriers that they face that are unique to them. We need to generate our own data rather than just copying data from other places and extrapolating because our situation, context, community, resource level and all of that is different.
Most of the treatment we are doing is copied and pasted from research that has been done in mostly Caucasian populations. We are assuming that it will work the same way in our in our population and produce the same results, but evidence from other types of cancer is beginning to show that that is not the case. So, we need to do our own local research to understand the specifics of our own kind of cancers, and how to treat them that are relevant to us and relevant to our resource capability. There is no point to copying a guideline for proton therapy that is not available in Africa and bringing it here to follow. We have to also develop treatment guidelines that are relevant and feasible in our context.
Also, talking about barriers to access, a child who has cancer should be able to get treatment. I’m not saying they should be treated free, because of course it does cost something and that’s that funding must come from somewhere but I think that a unity of private industry, healthcare industry, government and policymakers can devise solutions that will make sure that children are able to access care. A child who has cancer should not die when they didn’t have to die simply because the parents couldn’t afford treatment. Another problem that can be addressed is knowledge because there is a general knowledge plight in all industries not excluding healthcare but change is not isolated to healthcare.
Doctors and nurses are leaving the country not just because of the healthcare system, because of other challenges in other systems. I think as these things get better, we will retain our talent more. We are right now training talent and exporting those talents to other countries, and that is not good for our healthcare system or economy. We have to come up with innovative ways, not enough to just ban doctors from leaving the country. I don’t have to leave the country, but I might decide not to practise medicine anymore. That doesn’t help anybody. So they have to be innovative and realistic solutions to retaining the talent that we have in the country. These are some of the hanging issues that can be addressed, but there are multiple things. We need more healthcare facilities, experts, raining programmes and more referral systems that are tailored to children. We need more attention in general to pediatric cancer as there is needs to be strategic solution creation specific to cancer in children, not taking solutions that were designed for adult conditions and just sort of expanding them and thinking we can include children here. It doesn’t work that way. They have to be designed from the ground with children in mind for them to become relevant to those to that population.
An India Specialist Hospital, Apollo Hospitals, has offered to train local doctors on the treatment of cancer.
The hospital said it was prepared to establish local medical infrastructure in Nigeria. Vice President-International, Apollo Hospitals, Dr. Karthik Anantharaman,
who announced this in Abuja said his hospital wants to partner with local hospitals in Nigeria to help the country curb medical tourism.
India has become a medical destination for Nigerians seeking treatment for cancer and other serious ailments.
The hospital alone attends to between 1000 to 2000 patients from Nigeria yearly, Anantharam said.
According to him: ” We want to be partners in setting up local medical infrastructure in Africa, in Nigeria. So Apollo Hospital is now actually coming to Nigeria with a more strategic intent to train the local doctors.
“Likewise, we are now going to be partnering with many hospitals on training programme because we truly believe that if we can train the Nigerian doctors and the Nigerian doctors have the right skill sets to be able to treat patients locally, a lot more patients can benefit because not everyone will have the money to travel to India or travel to some other country to get the treatment.
“So if the local doctors have better training, better skills, then a lot of patients can be treated within the country.
“So that is our main focus now, to do the skill building, second main focus that we are doing is to have a partnership with local hospitals.
“We want to have stronger partnerships with local hospitals where we can actually have Apolo staff to be here to not just train the local doctors but also to offer full time medical care under partnerships and their operations and management contract.”
He also announced the plan of the hospital to invest in Oncology clinics in the country.
” So one of the more recent, you know, investments we are making is in the area of setting up daycare oncology clinics with very minimum investment.”
Highlighting the importance of partnering and training local doctors, Anantharam said: “So across the group, we see at least 100 -250 Nigerian patients that come to Apollo hospitals on a monthly basis, which means in a year at Apollo Hospital, we are treating at least about 1000 to 2200 Nigerian patients in a year across Apollo hospitals.
” These patients come to us for treatment in radiation, oncology, surgery operations, for surgical operations.
“They also come for advanced medical treatments as well across the group for various other treatments like kidney transplant, liver transplant, orthopedic surgeries, knee replacement and hip replacement, surgeries for cardiac surgeries like heart disease.”
He added: “So it is our strong endeavor in Apollo hospital that we are not here to just treat patients from Nigeria to come to Apollo.
“We want to be partners in setting up local medical infrastructure in Africa, in Nigeria.
” So Apollo Hospital is now actually coming to Nigeria with a more strategic intent to train the local doctors.”
