A shiny new weapon has arrived in the fight against cancer. And it came not from government coffers or global donors, but from a Nigerian tycoon with a knack for quiet interventions and grand gestures.
The gift? A $1 million Linear Accelerator machine, known in medical circles as a LINAC. The giver? Sir Emeka Offor, oil magnate, philanthropist, and founding chairman of the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation. The lucky recipient? The University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, which lost its only radiotherapy machine in last year’s devastating floods.
There’s something both startling and comforting about a man from Oraifite in Anambra State reaching across the map to help patients in Borno. But Offor’s giving has never been about borders. He’s made a habit of philanthropy that travels.
“This isn’t just equipment,” said Dr. Ibrahim Bako, an oncologist at UMTH. “It’s hope, packed in precision engineering.”
For months, cancer patients in the North-east have faced an impossible choice: travel hundreds of miles for treatment—or not at all. With this LINAC, UMTH can once again treat solid tumours locally, potentially serving not only Borno, but also patients from Chad, Niger, and Cameroon who rely on Nigeria’s medical backbone.
Offor wasn’t at the handover ceremony. But in a brief statement, he doubled down on his mission, explaining that it is the responsibility of the able to ensure that quality care reaches every Nigerian, not just those in big cities.
The donation followed a personal appeal by Nigeria’s Coordinating Health Minister, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, who didn’t hold back his gratitude.
At 66, Offor has already worn many hats: lawful Knight of Saint Christopher, oil and gas mogul, serial donor. But with this act, he might have added another: cancer-care crusader.
The LINAC will be up and running soon, after calibration and training. But the impact is already humming through the wards of UMTH. Sometimes, the best kind of power isn’t electric; it’s human.
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