Kwara State Governor AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq has pledged to expend the N2.5 billion donation received from Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative (ASR Africa) on the establishment of a multi-billion naira cancer treatment centre.
Abdulrazaq made this known at a virtual exco meeting in Ilorin, the state capital, adding that the centre would be situated at the Ilorin General Hospital.
He added that money would form a huge chunk of the funding for the modern facility.
The governor said the cancer centre – along with the 12-bed intensive care unit, the modern dental and eye care facilities recently added to the general hospital – is part of the huge investments to convert the General Hospital to a research facility (teaching hospital) for the takeoff of the medical college of the Kwara State University.
He said it would also reduce huge financial resources committed to medical tourism in the treatment of cancer by Nigerians, including patients from Kwara State.
The centre will serve as timely interventions for the treatment of cancer for indigenes of the state and neighbouring states such as Niger, Kogi, Oyo and Osun with all the potentials to be the best cancer treatment centre in the North Central, he added.
Petrol Subsidy cost rises to N5.58bn daily
The cost of importing Premium Motor Spirit into Nigeria surged by more than 60 per cent between December 2020 and mid-June 2021, although the pump price of the product remained was untouched.
Petrol landing cost presently stands at N231.98 per litre, as against an average of N143.60 per litre in December because of a rise in global oil prices and the depreciation of the naira against the dollar.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had in March this year released a pricing template that indicated the guiding prices for the month.
The template, which showed that the petrol pump price was expected to range from N209.61 to N212.61 per litre, was greeted with widespread public outcry and was later deleted by the agency from its website.
The pump price of petrol has remained at between N162 and N165 per litre at many filling stations in Lagos since December.
Last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria devalued the naira as it adopted the NAFEX exchange rate of N410.25 per dollar as its official exchange rate, days after removing the N379/$ rate from its website.
The National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Mike Osatuyi, told PUNCH that deregulation of the oil sector is the way forward for the country.
He said, “As long as the price of crude oil continues to rise and the pump prices of petrol remain the same in Nigeria, the subsidy will increase and petrol smuggling will continue.”
