Abuja — A bill seeking the establishment of a National Cancer Institute passed second reading effortlessly on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The bill entitled: 'A Bill for an Act to provide for the prevention, treatment and control of cancer in Nigeria and for connected purposes', was sponsored by Bassey Dan-Abia representing Esit-Eket, Onna, Eket Ibeno Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom State.

Dan-Abia, who led debate on the general principles of the bill, explained that it was unfortunate that no tangible step had been taken to contain the disease, which is on the rampage in the country. According to him, an estimated 80,000 Nigerians die of the disease yearly.

Lamenting that the killer disease has decimated those he termed as "the mighty, the upright, the not so honest as well as the lowly in the society", he listed inadequate and poorly distributed clinical services, few centres with functional radiotherapy equipment and expensive radiologic services as some of the challenges bedevilling the country's health sector.

He said other challenges include limited scope for multi-disciplinary cancer care, as well as surgeons with limited clinical experience in oncology.

Giving a frightening account on the devastating effect of cancer in the country, he lamented that it was unfortunate that Nigerians are forced to seek medical services in India due to inefficient radiotherapy centres in the nation's hospitals.

His words: "The disease does not just appear out of nowhere, it has definite cause that can be corrected if the body has enough time and if actions are taken to change the body's internal environment to one that creates health while at the same time attacking cancerous cells and tumour by exploiting their weakness.

"It occurs as a result of excessive amount of toxins and pollutants people are exposed to due to high stress lifestyles and zap in the immune system, poor quality junk foods that are genetically modified.

"An estimated 80,000 cancer related death occur in Nigeria every year and 10 Nigerians die every hour. The death rate of some common cancers in Nigeria is alarming; 30 Nigerian women die everyday from breast cancer; a Nigerian woman dies every hour from cervical cancer; 8,900. Nigerians die from liver cancer every year; prostrate cancer kills 14 Nigerian men everyday and every two hours, a Nigerian dies from colorectal cancer."