TheCable

Betta Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, has offered to assist a woman battling chronic breast cancer.

On Monday, Rasheed Zubair, the minister’s spokesperson, said the woman who usually sits on a popular road in Calabar, the capital of Cross River, was sighted and approached by the minister. 

He said upon realizing the severity of the condition of the woman whose name is Eno Essien, the minister offered to take care of her treatment and further medication.

“It was a stroke of luck yesterday as a 50-year-old abandoned Eno Asuquo Essein who is battling with suspected chronic cancer of the breast, and daily sits down by the roadside at Ekorinum by First Bank in Calabar begging for help caught the attention of the honorable minister of humanitarian affairs who had just come into town that afternoon for the Obong of Calabar event,” the minister’s spokesperson said.

“In her characteristic manner of quietly showing empathy and love for the vulnerable, the minister was overcome with emotions when she picked up Essien from the Ekorinim area of the Cross River state capital for full rehabilitation, medications and humanitarian assistance.

“Eno who lives in Calabar, has been battling the deadly disease for more than three years with no financial capacity for medical attention could not hold her gratitude.”

Speaking on the incident, Edu promised that she would ensure that Essien’s life is salvaged from the cancer.

“God will Save Eno Asuquo Essein’s life from this deadly state I met her,” the minister was quoted as saying.

During the defence of her ministry’s budget proposal before the national assembly joint committee on humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Edu said the proposed amount for her ministry for the 2024 fiscal year is not enough to fight poverty.