Dickson declares war against cancer

Tony Olutomiwa Yenagoa

The challenge of tackling the scourge of dancer, as a major threat to humanity got a boost last Thursday when the Goldcoast Dickson Memorial Cancer Centre was launched. Men and women of goodwill came together in solidarity with the founder, the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, to express their support in financial, moral and institutional terms to the centre.

The governor’s mother, Goldcoast Dickson, in whose memory the centre was established, died of lung cancer a year ago. 

The centre has a primary objective of spreading awareness and researching into the dreaded disease and its early detection and treatment to save lives.

And it was historic to see such a cream of people coming under one roof to support a cause, signifying the importance attached to the issue by both the host and the eminent backers.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 116,000 new cases of cancer and 41,000 cancer-related deaths were recorded in Nigeria in 2018.

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Leading the roll call at the event, which also coincided with the launch of the Henry Seriake Dickson Foundation, was President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by Minister-designate, Dr. Chris Ngige, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar (retd.), Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, and his Kebbi counterpart, Atiku Bagudu, Ebonyi State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, and former Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu.

Others are former Minister of Water Resources, Muktah Shagari, former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Kawu Baraje, and incumbent chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, Country Chair of Shell Petroleum Development Company, Engr. Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Ladi Balogun, Chairman of Ocean Marine Services, Captain Idahosa Okunbo, Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, Jimi Agbaje, Member of House of Representatives, Hon. Francis Agbo, Alhaji Mohammed Abacha, Special Adviser to the President on Social Intervention Programme, Maryam Uwais, and a host of other dignitaries.

Both the cancer centre and the foundation are located in the governor’s country home in Toru-Orua, Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

President Buhari, in a letter to Dickson conveying his best wishes over the new initiative, said the centre was a bold idea, which could prevent avoidable deaths and promised Federal Government support. He also noted his effort to immortalise his mother in a way that enhances human survival and development.

However, speaking in a personal capacity, Ngige said he appreciated Dickson’s efforts being a non-medical person but taking on such battle against cancer, adding that his efforts could save millions of people, adding that he should stay focused.

Ngige said: ”The president congratulates you on the step you have taken to set up the Henry Seriake Dickson Foundation to operate the Goldcoast Dickson Cancer Centre and he describes it as a step in the right direction.

“The president also says the Federal Government is doing a lot in the effort to prevent cancer and wishes to inform you that the Federal Government will readily collaborate with centres like yours that are involved in research and treatment of cancer.

“On a personal note, as a medical doctor, I want to thank you because it gives me joy when I see a non-medical person, taking a lead in the fight against deadly diseases. All hopes are not lost because if you go back to medical history, there was a time tuberculosis was a big killer; there was a time even malaria was a big killer. Today even HIV, we don’t know when but we would get there. So, through research, this centre could be what Nigeria would need and I would advise and say to you it is now forward ever backward never. Don’t be deterred.”

Chairman of the occasion, General Abdusalami Abubakar (retd.) said he concurred with Ngige’s position in appreciating those non-medical individuals, contributing significantly to medical causes, adding that like Dickson and others, he too lost his mother to cancer.

He said Dickson’s effort was a wonderful philanthropist gesture, which should be supported by donating generously to the centre so as to bring succourr to those suffering cancer in the country.

“May this foundation be blessed, may it be a source of joy to all those who will go through this centre,” he prayed.

On his part, former President Olusegun Obasanjo commended Dickson for setting up the centre in his mother’s memory, saying that it was in deference to injunction in the scripture to “honour our father and our mother”.

He noted that such honour should not only be when they are alive but even when they are dead.

“The honour should remain eternal and this is what you are doing.”

He said that the governor was not only doing that but taking on a major killer disease and helping to find a cure.

Obasanjo painted a traumatic picture, which cancer sufferers go through, particularly the excruciating pains, adding that with such, one would want to do anything and everything to comfort those who are victims.

He said: “And like in the case of your mother, I have a friend, who is very rich and the wife, we had a good meeting in January but by April, she was dead. Money they had, facilities they had but once the diagnosis have come late, then it is too late.

“And I am particularly happy that you said this centre would concentrate on early diagnosis. And I believe that most diseases that have no cure can be managed if they are diagnosed very early. And that is what you are doingg.”

He also praised the governor on one of his foundation’s core interests, which is keeping records.

“The second thing you said your foundation would be doing is institutional memory, one of the things we are very bad at in our own country. Keep record, maintain record and let them be accessible for those who want to do research or want to have information. One of the most depressing sites is the national archives. When you go there, you would almost weep and we have to do something about that,” he stated.  

Also speaking, former President Goodluck Jonathan, like Obasanjo, situated the scourge of cancer, as a challenge requiring a collective action.

He pointed out the need for early detection and treatmentt, as he drew attention to the case of his former aide, the late Oronto Douglas.

He was emphatic that cancer was a big problem to the nation, stating that when a sufferer tells you what he’s going through, then one would better appreciate the depth of such devastation.

“I have quite a number of people close to me that have suffered or still suffering from cancer. But one person that I remember dearly is the late Oronto Douglas. When Oronto Douglas was diagnosed in the U.S. and we were told he had liver cancer and, of course, he was going for periodic treatment and all his movements I knew, the reports I knew. And when he came back last time and told us he was asked to come and wait for days to die, we felt like shedding tears.”

The former president said the centre would grow not just beyond the state but also extending beyond, noting that there isn’t cancer centres in the West African sub-region.

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He promised that his foundation would work and advocate for the cancer centre and asked others, including the Federal Government to do so.

In his contribution, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, while commending Dickson’s vision, raised posers on the unavailability of medical facilities in the country, which, he said, was troubling.

 He, therefore, urged national stakeholders to rise and emulate Dickson In the provision of such life enhancing facilities, particularly in the health sector. 

 Secondus connected this scenario to medical tourism, as he lamented the dearth of state of the art health institutions in the country with the consequent avoidable deaths.

“I want to join Governor Dickson in calling other leaders to take up his good example and take the various areas in our health sector so that we may reduce the number of deaths,” the PDP chairman said 

The founder and host, Governor Seriake Dickson, while expressing gratitude to President Buhari, other national leaders and the eminent men and women, who graced the event, said his new initiative was a way of contributing to the good of humanity.

He reminisced on the life and times of his late mother, which he said informed the setting up of the foundation that will research into the dreadful disease and carry out awareness. 

He stated: “It is a humble effort on my part to set up this cancer foundation because I thought I should have a vehicle through which I could do some public good for humanity.

“I, therefore, humbly call on public spirited individuals and those who have resources to support this worthy cause to stop cancer from ravaging our population.”

The Henry Seriake Dickson Foundation has five strategic objectives, which would ensure that state of the art healthcare is available and cost effective, support youth employability, vocational education and entrepreneurship, enhance STEM and early childhood education standards, support women economic empowerment and invest in preserving the environment.

The Goldcoast Dickson Memorial Cancer Centre will also be involved in awareness, care and research into the scourge of cancer, as a leading cause of death in Nigeria and around the world.

Three notable medical institutions from Dubai (UAE) and America signed MoUs with the centre at the ceremony to collaborate in research and training.