I did not know how hungry I was for Chinua Achebe until I picked up “The Education of a British-Protected Citizen,” his latest work. This 2009 collection of essays follows the year in which his first and most famous work, “Things Fall Apart,” turned 50. In New York City, I attended one of the many events that were being held worldwide to celebrate the man and his great book.
I owed my good fortune that evening to my friend, Ogaga Ifowodo, who arranged a ticket to the event for me in Manhattan. But I almost did not get in. That was not because I was late. I had arrived at my desired New York street to find it jampacked with a long queue of people, 4-6 abreast, trying to get into a rock concert.
I walked past them, a long line that crawled all the way to the end of the block. It was only after I had freed myself of the throng first by crossing to the other side of the road, and then over to the next avenue, that I realized I had long passed the street number I sought. Making my way back, thanks to the magic of cell phones, I realized that there was no rock concert at all: the mammoth crowd I had almost called names was Achebe’s!
I journeyed back again to the back of the queue. Whereupon a middle-aged black man wearing his scowl like a mask, stopped to ask which artiste was responsible for such a tumultuous crowd. He was told it was not a concert, but a writer.
His frown deepened. “He must be very good,” he commented.
I seized the moment, and involuntarily deployed an American expression: “You better believe it!” I said.
Every seat in the large hall was a precious possession that night, as writers and teachers and students of literature came from the world over to breathe the same air as Achebe. As we all know, nothing succeeds like success. That night, as I buzzed with so much pride I came close to standing on my chair in order to be recognized as a “relative” of Achebe’s, I realized how dangerous success also can be.
Just over one year later, in nearby Grand Central Station, I bought “The Education of a British-Protected Citizen” in a bookstore. I read it largely on my work commute everyday. Achebe’s essays are great, but they are autobiographical only in a limited sense. I feel that they leave a lot of room for a major autobiography should he ever choose to pen one. But in this book, close readers of his will not only be persuaded about subjects about which he is passionate, they will also encounter Achebe, the man.
The essays are, in the main, drawn from public addresses he has given over the years. They explore themes that every African, indeed every black man, will identify with: slavery, colonialism, politics, Nigeria, religion, literature, and—yes—“Things Fall Apart.”
But it is Achebe’s fluid, humorous style, that changed my appreciation of my daily train ride, and I recommend that the Nigerian edition of the book carry the following warning: “This book is not recommended for quiet environments where people may be offended by repeated outbursts of mirth.”
Some of the essays are not necessarily funny. For instance, all Achebe fans know that in 2001, he was in one of Nigeria’s routine road crashes. He ended up in a wheelchair, and has lived abroad ever since. It is interesting to consider his experience several years earlier, in 1989, as a guest at an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting in Paris. In the final essay in this book, he relates his curiosity at that time about why he, a writer, had been invited.
Sitting there, he then heard renowned economic gurus at work, casually recommending vicious structural adjustment programmes for traumatized economies such as Africa’s. Achebe recalls he listened as they talked about how, in time, such steps as devaluing currencies and eliminating subsidies on food and fuel would stabilize such economies.
There and then, Achebe, who had experienced the menace of structural adjustment under President Ibrahim Babangida, experienced a bolt of inspiration. “Suddenly I received something like a stab of insight…I said that what was going on before me was a fiction workshop…you are developing new drugs and feeding them to a bunch of laboratory guinea pigs and hoping for the best. I have news for you. Africa is not fiction. Africa is people, real people…”
Was that epiphany productive? Achebe reflects: “The director-general (or whatever he was called) of the OECD, beside whom I was sitting, a Dutchman and quite a giant, had muttered to me, under his breath, at least twice: ‘Give it to them!’”
Achebe continues: “Who could have imagined that in the heart of the enemy’s citadel a friend like that Dutchman might be lurking, happy enough to set my cat among his own pigeons!”
Achebe’s entire book is, in a sense, an intervention of this nature on several issues, some in greater depth and detail than others. While he successfully establishes the culpability of Europeans as they corrupted and changed the positive image of Africans in order to justify the slave trade and the way they treated Africans, he is clear as to where we are today as Africans. Of Nigeria today, he writes, “Nigeria is a country where nobody can wake up in the morning and ask: what can I do now? There is work for all.”
And indeed, Achebe points the way to the future. What is most remarkable about him in the past eight years is that he has refused to see life on a wheelchair as existence on life-support. He continues to be productive, and this book is great evidence. As I conclude this article, word comes that in two weeks in his new environment in Rhode Island, United States, he will be hosting the Achebe Colloquium on Africa. The first concern is called the “International Conference on the Nigerian Elections.”
I have heard the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, brag that he will be there. With only a couple of months before the Anambra governorship elections that his party, the dominant People’s Democratic Party, has begun to manipulate, I hope he keeps his word.
What is more important is that Nigerians see the importance of joining Achebe in his engagement with Nigeria. As he observes the growing mess in Nigeria from across the Atlantic, Achebe seems concerned about the implications of that distance. Asked a few years ago by a UNESCO reporter what he missed most, he answered: “I miss being where I am needed most.”
He described that as “The atmosphere of real work…The other day, the current president (of my town council in Nigeria) wrote to me to ask for my help with a project for a new library. Nobody in upstate New York comes and says, “We want to build a library, can you help?”
Of course not, and a library is an excellent metaphor. When it comes to the public good, Nigeria is the most backward nation in the world. People would take money meant for education, or books, or to support writing, or children’s lunch, and repeatedly stuff it into their pockets.
This “self ahead of anything else” madness is eating Nigeria alive from within. It is the new enemy. And our nation, lacking heroes, needs people like Achebe in the frontlines wielding the long scapels. At Brown University in the aptly-named Providence, on December 11, I will be signing up in his command. The situation is too dangerous for absence.
* sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
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Chukwudi Mgbatogu
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... Please our great Chinua Achebe remain there.We can cope here.At least let him remain alive for Africans.Wole Soyinka has been able to survive the evil machinations of the then militaryjunta because he has been into the game, i mean the game of appearing and disspapearing.Remember the radio nigeria incident in the sixties that let to THE MAN DIED that keeps silence in the face of tyranny. |
H. Okoronkwo
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... @Nsikak Udoh: After re-reading based on your recommendation, charge #1 against my favorite Columnist, Sonala, is hereby dismissed on technical grounds. In reaching this conclusion, my earlier conclusion that Dimeji's presence to this special event adds no value remains unchanged. The Speaker speaks for himself and on behalf of the other wolves in the House of Representatives who are elbowing him 24/7 for his job. I thank you for your observation. |
Nsikak Udoh
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... H. Okoronkwo, please read it again. It was not an endorsement of Bankole's participation. The writer is just waiting for an opportunity of seeing a dog in a manger |
Nsikak Udoh
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... Sonala, you got it right by asserting that "This self ahead of anything else madness is eating Nigeria alive from within" But you are sure wrong by thinking "It is the new enemy". Wait a minute, hasn't that been our credo since 1960? If opulent lives of the First Republic, exemplified by the robust cheeks politicians & their chevrolets and Okotie Eboh and his long wrappers are not metaphors enough for "self ahead of anything else", I wonder what else would qualify. The fact is that selfless service has always been a misnomer around here, and I guess it will continue until we come up with stiff penalties against unjust "helping of self" in public office, and demonstrate sufficient seriousness to enforce them. |
governor-in-waiting
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... To add balance to some of the views expressed that Nigeria does not value its talents, I should say that this is not exactly correct. What happens is the fact that many Nigerians in authority are busy thinking of ways of lining their pockets with ill-gotten goods to the extent that all other things, including recognising Nigeria's talents, get shoved into the backburner. |
Victor Akinola
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... A literary giant of our time amongst others who now resides abroad. When will we learn? Kangiwa Abubakar Umar once said that if he were the President of Nigeria, The Nobel winner Wole Soyinka will not be in exile. This was during Abacha's reign of terror. Where do we begin with the story of Nigeria's continuous fall? Those at the helm of affairs tell us to go form another country if we don't appreciate Nigeria. What is there to appreciate, I question? |
debbel
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... Yes Soyinka is a critics....good critics to that extend, sometimes the old man go sway with his criticism. I became disenchanted with the noble laureate when he admitted that any public function he goes abroad, he has to take that task of explaining to his audience that he is not the author of THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe. The old man is famous as a noble laureate in literature while Achebe’s literary works are more talk about than Achebe himself. |
Man Chris
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... When Achebe refused Obasanjo's national award in 2004, in protest over his (Obasanjo's) silence, if not connivance with those he (Achebe) described as "renegades who want to turn Anambra State into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom" Obasanjo responded to that Achebe does not deserve the citizenship of a country called Nigeria! The issue is that, with characters like Obasanjo/Yar'adua Mark, Bankole etc, running Nigeria, men like Achebe will certainly find it hard, if not impossible to work in the environment called Nigeria. People like him, Soyinka, the late Gani Fawehinmi are too decent to operate in a country where a party like PDP is incharge. And unless we change for good, Nigeria, as a country will continue to miss the direct and invaluable services of such honest and highly talented citizens of our country. |
Jeffrey Adams
said:
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... God's willing, I'll be signing up too on he same day. We can't just sit back and keep quite abroad while our own roast and burns. All well meaning Nigerian needs to join forces and lets challenge these corrupt mad men in power. I believed that the pen is mightier than the sword. Lets rise to the challenges and you'll me amazed how these thieves will scamper for safety. |
AdeO
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... Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka are two very good reasons to be proud to be Nigerian please point these two men out to the youth of this country so they know what good role models are and they don't be confused by all those chief this and that, thieves all over Nigeria today. We celebrate you sir |
BBarnt
said:
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... It always amazes me when Nigerians say... "ONLY God can help the country". God helps those that help themselves. I can surmise that nobody on this chat is "holier" than me, but, Nigerians put so much trust in God and refuse to accept the responsibility of changing their country. A country is only as good/great as its citizens! |
Nazz
said:
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... Almighty God will continue to be with you and give you the courage, good health and protection to continue to inspire youths like us. You and Wole Shoyekan are loved and admired as the true ambassadors of our nation. Love you! |
H. Okoronkwo
said:
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... Last week, you predicted that Nigeria under 27 team would win the under 17 world soccer cup competition and they did not. I expected some form of apology from you and I am very dissappointed that you did not find it necessary to do so. Your belief and hope in Nigeria and her potentials needs to be toned down. My second grouse is your endorsement of the invitation of Dimeji Bankole, who by the way is a 'dear' FaceBook friend of mine to the International Conference on Nigerian Elections. Speaker Bankole is a 'Dog in a Manger'. He is a product of PDP, the same party that continues to ruin our lives, maim our people and squandered resources with impunity. The ugly truth about Bankole is that he is playing with our collective intelligence. Dimeji Bankole has no power in PDP, not even in the House of Mis-Representatives. He is a piece of shit, a punk, a 'muthafucker' that needs to be ignored and isolated. He does not speak for me. |
Adegboye
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... It is unimaginable how our talents are kept away from home (Nigeria) where they are mostly needed. My heart bleeds whenever i come across great Nigerians making giant strides in their chosen fields as i travel around the globe. The irony of it is that these skills are what we needed for the development of our country but people in position of authority seem not to care tapping into these skills that we despirately need for our development as a nation. Well, God will help us. |
David Aniagolu
said:
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... I was dicussing with my friend, Nkem, the other day about Nigerians abroad and the rot at home. He asked why the Great Chinua Achebe should not return to Nigeria to contribute in sanitazing his native land. Hardly had he finishe d speaking before I quipped in, "What if the people who kidnapped Peter Edochie and Nkem Owoh should kidnap him?" And indeed, would his kidnap not attract a very huge ransom - say N3b? A person like Achebe is an institution, a national pride. Every sane country would do everything to ensure he is right there at home and develop an institution in his honour. Think of a "Chinua Achebe University of African Literature, Ogidi". No, it wouldn't fit in "National Character". Unless one such institution has been built in Kano for Mallam Barkin Zuwo first! |
