Literary giant Chinua Achebe
returns "home"
from U.S., to love and adulation of
community
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The most translated writer of African heritage, Prof. Chinua Achebe, has returned to his historic home in Ogidi, Anambra State, to the joy and adulation of well-wishers.He had been residing in New York as a visiting scholar to some universities in Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and Europe. The man who is famous for his universally acclaimed ease of writing and story-telling through some of his works like Things Fall Apart (1958); No Longer at Ease (1960), and Arrow of God (1964--rev. 1974), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987), was quick to express his outrage and concern regarding the destruction of the moral fabric and ethics in Nigeria's campuses by cults. He said that the "alarming rate of cultism in our institutions is only a symptom of the great disease that befell this country following its collapse, and it may continue until the disease is cured." Achebe is advocating for "severe" punishment for what calls "abhorrent" conduct by those who have brought such decay to the colleges." He returned in August 1999, after nine years' of residing outside Nigeria. He wondered "how the nation's campuses were allowed to be engulfed by such an obsession. He has committed to assisting in the effort to increase school enrollment in Nigeria. He related the fall in school registrations to "a failure of government not to provide employment for the country's teeming graduates, who roam the streets or subsist on third or fourth grade jobs, whereas those that never went to school but acquired wealth by questionable means are made heroes." Early this year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced his appointment as its Goodwill Ambassador. Achebe represented UNFPA at the UN General Assembly special session 30, June - 2 July, 1999 to review progress made in the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994. He will, also, take part in "The Day of Six Billion" on October 12, this year, when the world population is expected to be more than six billion. Achebe graduated from University College, Ibadan, in 1953, worked at the Nigerian Broadcasting Company and left due to the 1967-70 Nigeria-Biafra war to serve in the Biafran Ministry of Information and represented Biafra as a diplomat. In 1990, he was injured in an auto accident which left the award-winning author paralyzed from the waist down. I saw him before the accident in the late 1980s at my alma mater where he was like a scholar-in-residence, the University of Nigeria (Nsukka campus). After a decade, I had the privilege of speaking with Prof. Achebe, while he resided in the U.S., fairly regularly since 1996 (virtually every 90 days), He always complimented and encouraged our modest efforts at USAfrica, here in Houston. He was, always, concerned about the direction of his
country (Nigeria) and the progress of its people, the entire
people who share the African heritage and the community of
persons who are interested in reading and writing. He has
also been involved with the United Nations in contributing
practical solutions to matters of global importance.
Certainly, Prof. Achebe has been a significant and binding
source for an engaging understanding of African
pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial history and
realities. Such insight has made him a favorite of
African-Americans, too, who continue to seek a better,
realistic understanding of Africa, at least, from Achebe's
utilization of his proud Igbo ancestry, in south eastern
Nigeria. Nigeria at 40: punish financial thuggery, build domestic infrastructure |
Achebe
turns 70; celebrates with Mandela, Morrison, world's leading
arts scholars in New York Among the intellectual heavyweights, colleagues and
friends who attended the November 3-4, 2000 insightful
events at Bard College, New York , were Nobel laureates in
literature Toni Morrison, and Wole Soyinka. Others are Ali
Mazrui, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, K. A. Appiah, Ekwueme Michael
Michael Thelwell, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Molefi Kete Asante,
Leon Botstein, Joseph Duffey, Emmanuel Obiechina, John
Ashbery, Micere Mugo, Niyi Osundare, Nurrudin Farah, Niara
Surdakasa, Chinweizu, Don Burness, Douglas Killam,
Gill Noble, John Edgar Wideman, and a host of others. Also,
several officials and represenatives of governments from
Nigeria (Ojo Maduekwe), Ghana, Tanzania and Senegal
attended. Achebe's latest book is titled Home and Exile
(2000). A review appeared in USAfrica The Newspaper in
August, 2000. He has been a presidential fellow lecturer,
World Bank (1998) and holds honorary doctorates from more
than 35 colleges and universities including Harvard (1996),
University of Nigeria (1981), and Dartmouth (1972). Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard of artistic excellence, and more. By Douglas Killam Chinua Achebe: A Literary Diaspora Toasts One of Its Own. By Somini Sengupta |
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Prof.
Achebe has been a significant and binding source for an
engaging understanding of African pre-colonial, colonial and
post-colonial history and realities. I believe that such
insight has made him a favorite of African-Americans, and
other scholars and regular folks in search of a better,
realistic understanding of Africa, at least, from Achebe's
utilization of his rich and dynamic Igbo ancestry, in south
eastern Nigeria. I share the same ancestry.
Should Africa debates begin and end at
PRESIDENTIAL
TRANSITION
In
a special report soon after after the history-making
nomination, 
in Obasanjo is abusing 
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
he
said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his
presidency has been questioned by
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was
neither validated by the economic exchanges nor
geo-strategic interests of our two continents." These views
were stated during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw
and senior analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on
Saturday November 18, 2000 during a special edition of
'Inside Politics 2000.'