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The Federal Government has begun constructing six Cancer Excellence Centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to enhance early detection, treatment, and management of cancer cases.
Minister of State for Health, Dr. Isiaq Salako, disclosed this in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during the launch of the OncoSeek Cancer Screening Test at a workshop focused on developing National Nuclear Medicine Guidelines and Policy.
“We are implementing programmes cutting across prevention, treatment and control, including the ongoing construction of six cancer centres of excellence across the six geopolitical zones,” Salako said. “The second phase in the agenda to provide state-of-the-art cancer treatment infrastructure is set to commence under the 2025 budget, and I am happy to announce that in this second phase, FMC Abeokuta has been selected to be a recipient.”
Salako stressed the growing burden of cancer in Nigeria, noting that it requires “the deployment of all solutions and all management possibilities to tackle the challenge.”
He added that three of the six centres are nearing completion, and funds have been allocated in the 2025 budget for further development. He also announced that Nigeria now has “an agency solely dedicated to cancer research – the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment.”
Addressing the importance of early diagnosis, Salako pointed out a major challenge in cancer care: “As we know, a key challenge of cancer care in our country is late detection and presentation. A lot of cancers often present with signs and symptoms that mimic other diseases and may go undetected.”
Introducing the OncoSeek test, Salako said: “Screening services that can detect cancers early or even at the precancerous stage are therefore an important mechanism in the prevention and control of cancer. OncoSeek, a blood-based test that can be used for early detection of high-mortality cancers, including nine high-mortality cancer types – breast, colon, esophageal, liver, lung, lymphoma, ovarian, pancreatic, and stomach cancers, is a welcome development.”
The test, he explained, will help “screen and identify patients who may require definitive diagnostic tests.”
The Minister also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to incorporating nuclear medicine into cancer treatment. “The Technical Working Group on Nuclear Medicine Guidelines and Policy was inaugurated in February as part of the government’s efforts to harness the potential of nuclear medicine in cancer treatment,” he said. “I want to assure the team that their recommendations will be implemented in their entirety.”
