Succour has come the way of Dorcas Adepitan and
Omolara Onibudo, two cancer patients as Senator Iyiola Omisore has paid their
N2.5m medical bills.
Before the senator’s gesture, Adepitan, nine and
Onibudo, 20, had cried out for financial assistance to enable them to combat
the cancers.
PUNCH Metro had on December 12 published
the pathetic story of Adepitan and Onibudo who were diagnosed with the cancer
of the bone and cancer of the lip respectively.
Omisore presented the N2.5m cheque to the two
patients under the auspices of Eko Lions Club at the Lions Club International
Institute in Lagos on Thursday.
He thanked The PUNCH and the Lions Club
for their intervention in bringing the plight of the patients to limelight,
saying without them, succour might not have come their way.
He said if not for the publication, the wrong
impression would have been created that Nigerians live in a society of
heartless and insensitive people.
Omisore said, “While it may be true that wicked
and heartless people abound everywhere, it is also true that humane and
sensible people are not in a short supply.
“It behoves us to always draw attention to cases
needing humanitarian support, confident that God is able to touch hearts and
raise help in ways distinctly His; never must we despair, lose hope or give up
the battle for a better society.
“Let’s move from here to educate and
enlighten everyone that when we give a helping hand, we are not only
discharging our God-given charge but also giving a token back to the society
that has given us so much.”
He promised to redouble his efforts to see to it
that cases such as Adepitan and Onibudo’s would automatically be taken
over by the government or some organisations for remediation without passing
through appeal in the media.
He urged Nigerians to learn to be their brother’s
keepers, saying that judging by what the people were passing through in
the country today, the people needed an “avalanche of Good Samaritans.”
“By that way, we shall drastically reduce
frustration, distress and criminal activities in the land and the high walls of
bitterness and hatred will come crashing down like the Berlin Wall of yore. Our
society will be the safer and saner for it,” Omisore said.
At the event, Professor Emeritus and Founder of
African Cancer Centre, Olufemi Williams, said an estimated 500,000 Nigerians
died from cancers yearly.
He said close to $200m (N31.2bn) was spent yearly
by Nigerians who went for treatment of cancer.
He said his centre needed only between $40m
(N6.24bn) and $50m (N7.8bn) to stop people from going abroad for cancer
treatment.
Williams said, “One thing I find in Nigeria and
other parts of Africa is that whenever they want to build a house, they start
from the roof. And by the time they get to the foundation, there is no more
space.
”With just $50m, Nigeria could be brought to
international limelight in cancer cure. There is need for the relevant
authorities to build the necessary institutions in the country to address the
scourge.”
When our correspondent sought the views of
Adepitan and Onibudo, they were grateful to Omisore for coming to their aid.
Onibudo said specifically that the gesture had
rekindled her belief that there are some Nigerians that are kind-hearted.
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