Your Excellencies, First Ladies and Former First Ladies of Nigeria States, Outgoing Chairperson of the First Ladies Against Cancer Initiative, Her Excellency Dr. Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, Newly Inaugurated Chairperson of First Ladies Against Cancer Initiative, Her Excellency Barrister Mrs Chioma Uzodimma, and distinguished colleagues, partners, and friends, It is with deep purpose that I stand before you today, honoured to join this distinguished Network of Friends of FLAC. I recognise this invitation as an opportunity to lend my voice as President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, to this noble mission, transforming cancer care in Nigeria from a story of neglect into a legacy of equity, survival, and hope.

Allow me to begin by expressing profound respect for the leadership of the First Ladies Against Cancer Initiative. This coalition, composed of current and former First Ladies of our great nation, represents the very best of public service, convening not for ceremony, but for strategic, compassionate action. Your steadfast advocacy for cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and survivorship has brought clarity to a challenge too often overlooked, and visibility to those most vulnerable.

In the same breath, I wish to recognise and commend our valued partner today, Roche, for its longstanding commitment to oncology innovation, equity, and public-private collaboration in Africa. At the margins of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, I had the honour of joining a pivotal roundtable convened by the Business Council for International Understanding in partnership with Roche, focused on combating breast cancer through investment in noncommunicable diseases within the broader framework of Universal Health Coverage. Our discussions with Roche, the International Finance Corporation, and the World Bank Group highlighted the urgency of reimagining breast cancer care as a credible and measurable entry point for NCD integration, and of strengthening health worker training, financing strategies, and access to screening and treatment across Africa.

Roche’s partnership in these dialogues reflects the essential role that responsible private sector actors must play in building equitable health systems. According to the most recent GLOBOCAN data published in 2024, Nigeria recorded over 134,000 new cancer cases last year, and nearly 89,000 cancer-related deaths. Breast and cervical cancers remain the leading causes of cancer mortality among women, while childhood cancers and prostate cancer contribute significantly to the burden. Tragically, in Africa today, one in two women diagnosed with breast cancer will not survive beyond five years. These are not distant abstractions, they are Nigerian mothers, daughters, sisters, and children.

It is for this reason that the Wellbeing Foundation Africa continues to pursue a data-driven approach to cancer advocacy. In 2018, in partnership with Amref Health Africa and with support from Takeda Oncology, we conducted Nigeria’s first independent Rapid Assessment of Cancer Prevention and Control. This study remains essential in understanding the national landscape of oncology. We revealed critical gaps, a severe shortage of trained health personnel, a notable absence of specialists in rural areas, poor coordination of drug supply chains, and inadequate diagnostic and treatment infrastructure. These structural deficiencies not only compromise care, they cost lives.
Yet that report also catalysed progress. It informed Nigeria’s revised National Cancer Control Plan and has helped guide national and subnational strategies to strengthen health workforce training, expand cancer registries, and embed cancer screening into primary healthcare. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa has continued to act on this evidence by integrating breast and cervical cancer screening into our Mamacare360 midwifery-led community antenatal and postnatal programming, working to educate women about symptoms and self-examinations, and referring at-risk individuals into formal care pathways.

As the Wellbeing Foundation Africa advances the broader vision of Universal Health Coverage with a gender-responsive lens, one that centres women’s health as a priority entry point to system-wide resilience, we aim to improve the standard of care across Nigeria, with particular attention to breast cancer survival rates, which, when diagnosed and treated early, can reach 80 to 90 percent.

I believe that FLAC, through its strong leadership and national presence, is uniquely positioned to accelerate these gains. The Friends of FLAC network, of which I am proud to now be a part, as a Former First Lady of Kwara State 2003-2011, as a former Chair of Nigeria Governors Wives Association 2007-2011 and as a former Chair, Forum of Senators Spouses 2015 – 2019, will serve as an amplifier, helping to mobilise resources, strengthen patient support systems, and push for policy reform that makes cancer services accessible, affordable, and dignified. Our role is to support FLAC’s vision not just in word, but in deed, by embedding cancer advocacy into maternal health platforms, strengthening data systems, and holding ourselves accountable for measurable progress.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, I believe this is a moment of national awakening. The cancer burden in Nigeria is growing, but so is our collective ability to respond. As someone who has had the honour of serving as First Lady, I have seen how the convening power of that role, when wielded with intention, can bring voices together across divides and spark lasting change. With the leadership of First Ladies nationwide, investment from our partners, and the commitment of frontline institutions like the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, we can move from fragmented efforts to a unified, strategic response. We can normalise cancer screening through education and community engagement, we can scale up HPV vaccination for every eligible girl, we can expand coverage of care through national health insurance, and most importantly, we can build a health system rooted in knowledge, self-care, and dignity, one in which no Nigerian is left behind.

The fight against cancer is not only a medical imperative, it is a moral legacy. It reflects the value we place on each and every Nigerian life. Let history remember that this generation of leaders, nurturers, and nation-builders did not turn away. That we came together, as First Ladies, as policymakers, as civil society, and as global partners, to walk a path lit by courage, guided by evidence, and anchored in compassion.

Thank you. May our work together today build a legacy of survivorship, resilience, and restored hope for all.