Following the launching of the 5-year State Cancer Control Plan, the Oyo State Government inaugurated a steering committee which has been saddled with the responsibility of implementing the plan.
The membership of the committee, headed by the Wife of the Governor of Oyo State and founder of the Access to Basic Medical Care Foundation, Chief (Mrs.) Florence Ajimobi, is made of people who are potent forces in their fields and in the country.
The pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier Technical University, The Technical University, Ibadan, Professor Ayobami Salami, Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan were named as members of the steering committee.
Others include the Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Gabriel Ojeleke Abegunrin, Mrs. Sururat Oyero, former Public Relations Officer of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria, FOMWAN, Dr. Oluyemisi Iyiola, Professor Olaitan Soyannwo and Professor Modupe Onadeko.
While commending his wife who is the initiator of the programme, the Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi confirmed that his administration has “taken a pre-emptive review of the structure of the healthcare system with the requisite intent of meeting the health needs of the people of Oyo State”. He also stated that an extensive restructuring of the sector, involving the three tiers of service provision in the state was ongoing.
In her address, Mrs. Ajimobi pointed out that her Foundation has been at the forefront of the fight against cancer in Oyo State in the last five years. “My first response to tackling cancer was to make cancer control activities a cardinal part of the vision of Access to Basic Medical Care Foundation, an NGO which I founded in 2012”, Mrs. Ajimobi stated.
