By Gloria Essien, Abuja
The House of Representatives has said that it is working with resident doctors in Nigeria to save the lives of cancer patients as the ongoing strike continues.
The Chairman House Committee on Healthcare Services, Mr. Amos Magaji Garba, said this at a press briefing to mark World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day in Abuja.
He said that the House is engaging in discussions with the Association of Resident Doctors to get them to go back to work.
“Being involved in dispute resolution gives us an opportunity to contribute and know that whatever government agrees with them, we can not go back there again.
“We want to be sure that if it’s doable, we know it’s doable. If we can not give what they are asking, what can we give? So, we have had several engineers with them; the eleven demands brought to the table, many of them can not be attended to immediately.
“We are working on seeing what can be done immediately, what can be done in the short term, and what can be done in the longer term. But then, the most important thing is trust. Once trust is bridged, it becomes a problem. Whatever is agreed, the government may not have the immediate solution to that problem now, but trust has to be there for the union to go back to work, believing that whatever is agreed will be done. And that’s why we are here,” Mr. Garba said.
He said that the House is not leaving any stone unturned.
He added that the government is doing everything possible to ensure that resident doctors go back to work.
The Chairman of the National Task Force on Cervical Cancer Elimination (NTF-CCE), Prof. Isaac Adewole, represented by the Director of Cancer Prevention and Control at the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Dr. Usman Waziri, said that the Task Force had secured a ₦1 billion donation from the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to support nationwide cervical cancer screening.
He also announced the establishment of a National Project Implementation Subcommittee, chaired by Okechukwu Ikpeze, President of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Nigeria (SOGON).
“The subcommittee will oversee the rollout of HPV testing across all six geopolitical zones using the ₦1 billion as seed funding. States selected for the pilot phase must provide counterpart funding to ensure long-term sustainability,” he said.
He described cervical cancer as a preventable disease that still claims thousands of Nigerian women each year.
He said that Cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer among Nigerian women.
“In 2022 alone, the country recorded 14,089 new cases and 8,240 deaths, a fatality rate of nearly 60 percent.
“Despite available vaccines and early detection tools, cervical cancer continues to pose a major public health challenge,” Adewole noted.
He recalled Nigeria’s global advocacy role, pointing out that in 2018 the country was the only nation represented alongside the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the UN General Assembly to push for worldwide action on cervical cancer.
That advocacy contributed to the launch of the global elimination strategy on 17 November 2020.
Established in 2024, the NTF-CCE is chaired by Adewole, with former Nigerian Cancer Society President Sani Malami as Secretary, and Dr. Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, President-elect of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), as Vice Chair.
He noted that the Task Force has also unveiled the Partnership to Eliminate Cervical Cancer in Nigeria (PECCiN), targeting the vaccination of 8 million adolescent girls and screening of 8 million women annually.
The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency will handle vaccine distribution, while NICRAT will oversee screening.
The Executive Director · International Society of Media in Public Health, Mrs. Moji Makanjuola, urged the media to amplify cervical cancer awareness.
She said that most families in Nigeria have had various experiences with cancer.
“Together we can eliminate cervical cancer in Nigeria,” Mrs. Makanjuola said.
She called on medical consultants to fill in the gaps as doctors are on strike.
A cancer survivor, Miss Mercy Moses, lamented that she could not access care because of the doctor’s strike.
The theme of the 2025 Cervical Cancer Elimination Day is “Act Now: Eliminate Cervical Cancer.”