Among the 200 women recently screened for cancer-related cases in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, 10 have been diagnosed with cancer, just as the detected cases also showed that breast cancer was more common, than cancer of the cervix.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, told The Guardian in Ilorin Thursday that the statistics were from the cancer screening recently bankrolled by the wife of Kwara State Governor, Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed.

Olatinwo, who lauded the initiative, stated that if discovered earlier, cancer-related cases could be effectively managed by medical experts, thus reducing the mortality rate of carriers.

Nevertheless, he does not believe that cancer-related cases were on the increase in Nigeria, stating rather that, "aggressive awareness on it is making many people who could have died silently unrecorded to be coming for screening and management of the disease."

"The recent aggressive campaign is beginning to yield more results in women in the state. Out of about 200 women screened in the exercise, 10 have cause to visit the UITH. Many women are now presenting themselves for screening and this may be sending a wrong signal of rising cases."

In any case, he disclosed that a philanthropist has commenced the building of a N60 million emergency pediatrics ward for UITH and another N500, 000, following the donation of a trauma centre by an Ilorin-based lawyer, Yusuf Ola Olu Ali (SAN).