Medicines Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, relies on the support of local leaders to effectively carry out its humanitarian work, according to its team currently visiting Nigeria’s South-East region.

During a meeting with Professor Bart Nnaji, the Chairman of Geometric Power, at his Enugu residence on Monday, the team emphasised the importance of local support, citing the organization’s critical work in crisis zones worldwide, which earned them the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize.

MSF Special Adviser to its Nigerian Office, Professor Simeon Alozieuwa, told Nnaji, “While some other international organisations work in conflict places just to save lives, we not only save lives and ameliorate sufferings worldwide, we also speak out against acts that offend human dignity.”

The policy of “see something and say something,” explained Alozieuwa, “frequently draws the ire of governments and influential groups.”

The Israeli government has been critical of international humanitarian agencies like MSF since it launched a war against Hamas in Gaza last year in response to Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, in Israel, accusing the organisations of providing shelter to anti-Israeli forces.

Professor Alozieuwa reminisced about how MSF sounded the alarm in 2016 about severe malnutrition in North-Eastern Nigeria, caused by the Boko Haram insurgency, which could lead to a catastrophic situation.

Although the Nigerian authorities initially disapproved of the report, fearing it would tarnish the country’s image, they later acknowledged its value when a detailed UNICEF report corroborated MSF’s findings.

Alozieuwa praised MSF’s policy of speaking truth to power and its approach of working closely with local leaders to gather accurate information and insight into critical issues affecting the people’s survival.

He acknowledged Professor Nnaji’s influence and reputation, both nationally and globally, for his groundbreaking research in science and engineering, and expressed the organization’s desire for his support.

Nnaji thanked MSF for its star role in alleviating human suffering throughout the globe, noting that “it is eminently deserving of the Nobel Prize it won towards the end of the last century.”

Nnaji expressed his delight that the idea for MSF was born in Nigeria during the civil war.

He noted that Bernard Koutchner, the founder, was inspired to create MSF after his experience working with the International Red Cross, where he felt frustrated that they could only provide individual aid but not speak out about the larger humanitarian crisis.

This led to the establishment of MSF in France in 1971, a year after the Nigerian civil war ended, by a group of doctors and journalists dedicated to providing aid to those in need in conflict zones.

Nnaji said, “Interestingly, this critical organization traces its roots to our dear country,” and pledged maximum support to it.

Nnaji, the chairman of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas committee that decides the work to receive the country’s most prestigious annual award for science, compared the MSF humanitarian work to the new NLNG’s decision to reward research with a significant and immediate impact on society.

He stated, “I am delighted that the NLNG Science Prize of $100,000 for 2023 went to Professor Hyppolite Amadi, a Nigerian researcher at Imperial College London, for an invention that helps newborn babies with a serious health issue survive.

“The invention costs N700,000, whereas the imported equivalent costs about N6 million.”

The former minister disclosed that his wife, Mrs Agatha Nnaji, is leading a non-governmental organization known as Dewdrops to train people to care for the elderly.

The trainees received the London City and Guilds certifications that enabled them to work in different countries.

He added, “Taking care of elders with their geriatric challenges requires special skills and emotions that remind us constantly of our solidarity with the human family.”

Professor Alozieuwa was joined on the visit by a team of MSF representatives, including Karsten Noko, the head of MSF’s Nigeria mission, who hails from Zimbabwe; Dr Aissami Abdou, from MSF’s Operational Centre in Brussels, Belgium, originally from the Niger Republic; and Dr Ximena Campos Morena, the Deputy Operational Coordinator at MSF’s Brussels office, who is from Mexico.

The team expressed their pleasure at being in Nigeria, particularly in the Eastern region where the organization was conceptualized.

They were warmly received by Professor Nnaji, along with C. Don Adinuba, a former Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment in Anambra State and current communication consultant for Geometric Power Group.