TheCable

The Abuja Lions Club has announced plans to build a pediatric cancer treatment centre in the nation’s capital.

Charlz Opusunju, the club’s president, disclosed this during the recent investiture ceremony of the organisation’s officers in Abuja.

Opusunju said the planned gesture is as a result of the lack of such facility at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, adding that the club remains committed to touching lives.

He also said new initiative comes just after the club donated a solar-powered borehole to the Tunga Maji, an Abuja suburb, which cost it about N2 million.

“We visited the teaching hospital and discovered that there was no ward for paediatric cancer patients,” he said.

“Sadly, people hardly talk about paediatric cancer because it is always overshadowed by adult cancer. This is what propelled us to start creating awareness that there is also cancer among children.

“This is going to be our major project, we know it is a huge task but we intend to accomplish it in the next six months and we urge Nigerians to key into it. We intend to build and possibly furnish depending on the amount we can raise.”

Monique Welson, the club’s outgoing president, spoke of how they impacted on the lives of some visually-impaired students in Abuja.

“We actually did so much in terms of project execution. We touched lives at the FCT School for the Blind by providing some signages for people to easily locate the place,” he said.

“We screened them to ascertain the level of their sight problem and we celebrated with them. To cap it all, we built and furnished a resource centre for the school because the students needed a library where they can keep their belongings.”