Zik’s Day Beckons!

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu 

The man fondly called Zik of Africa deserves his day. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s foremost nationalist and first president, deserves his birthday, November 16, to be slated as a national holiday.

*Azikiwe 

It is a deserving honour for the pivotal leader who led the charge for Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960. 

As a result of his unparalleled efforts Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe would in the course of time become the only black Governor-General of Nigeria, the first President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the only Nigerian whose name appeared in a Constitution of Nigeria, the first Senate President, among many other sterling firsts. 

Igbo Day: Think Again

 By C. Don Adinuba

There is so much the Igbo can celebrate about themselves. Take their brilliant performance in education which is phenomenal. Whether in the West African School Certificate examination or the Joint Admissions Matriculation examination or the entrance examination into Federal Government Colleges or into the Federal Government-owned School for the Gifted and Talented in Abuja, the story is the same. Even in global educational competitions, the Igbo are outstanding.

This is by no means fortuitous. By 1945 when the Second World War ended, there were a handful of Igbo graduates because the Igbo live in the interior; the Europeans who brought education to Nigeria came through the seas. Yet, within 20 years the people had begun to compete effectively with the Yoruba who had a historical advantage of over half a century over them in terms of higher education; the Yoruba have towns like Badagry and Lagos which are on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. By  1965, the Igbo had, as Chinua Achebe put it in The Trouble With Nigeria, ”wiped out their educational handicap in one fantastic burst of energy”.

Chinua Achebe Prize For Nigerian Writing Endowed By Anambra State Govt

 
*Achebe 

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) which Africa's greatest raconteur and novelist founded at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, the Anambra State Government has endowed a one-million naira (N1 million) worth Chinua Achebe Prize for Nigerian Writing.

The Prize is to be administered by ANA founded in 1981. 

Anambra 2021: An Appeal To The Mass Media

 By C. Don Adinuba 

 1. With the nomination on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, of Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, an internationally recognized economist, reformer and erstwhile Central Bank governor, as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) gubernatorial candidate in the November 6 election in Anambra State, the campaign for the governorship election has, for all practical purposes, started. The campaign is expected to be issues-based, free of rancor and violence, as in the last two gubernatorial elections in the state. The APGA gubernatorial nominee has always been widely regarded as the shoo-in. 

C. Don Adinuba

2. The mass media have a huge part to play in the quest to make the November 6 vote exemplary. However, the reports by a section of the Nigerian media on the statutory measures towards the elections have been anything but assuring. A mainstream newspaper, for example, claimed three days ago that APGA would be disqualified from the forthcoming gubernatorial election because, as it claimed, it did not notify the Independent National Electoral Commission of the special ward congresses held on June 15, 2021, to choose ad hoc delegates to the June 23, State Congress, at least 21 days before the event. The newspaper based the speculative report on a letter purportedly written by an INEC officer claiming that it was not notified of the congresses. The INEC officer states nowhere in the letter anything concerning disqualification. Are some journalists now campaigning for INEC to be vested with the power to disqualify candidates and parties arbitrarily long after the courts have stopped such arbitrary actions? 

Anambra International Airport Is On Course

 

By C. Don Adinuba

1. As the first commercial plane is scheduled to land at Anambra International Cargo/Passenger Airport on April 30, 2021, to test-run the facilities at the airport, a faceless group of hired propaganda guns has crafted and posted on the Internet a so-called news report alleging that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Aviation, has refused to give the Anambra State Government a licence to operate an international airport but has rather offered the State Government a licence to run a domestic airport. The scammers attributed the purported decision to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Sirika Hadi, a well-respected captain and administrator.  

Averting Dearth Of Igbo Language, By Pita Ejiofor

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The passion in the man was like a charge of electricity. Prof. Pita Ejiofor may look calm but when the subject is the neglect of the Igbo language calmness gives place to passionate intensity. The celebrated professor was introduced to me in Awka by the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, and almost instantly our discussion gravitated to the vexed matter of the travails of the Igbo language.

*Prof. Pita Ejiofor

Prof Ejiofor had served in esteemed positions as commissioner, vice-chancellor and so on, but what gives him the greatest oomph is the drive to save his beloved Igbo language from extinction. He has arduously championed the cause for all of 12 years through his group Otu Suwakwa Igbo that he initiated on February 14, 2006. He laments that a great number of Igbo leaders can never ever be seen taking the Igbo language issue seriously.

Toward A New Direction For The National Carrier

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The recent suspension of the proposed national carrier, Nigeria Air, has elicited mixed feelings across the nation. The name and logo of the flag carrier had been unveiled with so much promise at the Farnborough Air Show in Britain in July. Operations were due to begin this December. The pivotal point was that the airline would be private sector-driven.

Gov Obiano and President Buhari 

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, stated: “It is a business, not a social service. The government will not be involved in running it or deciding who runs it. The investors will have full responsibility for this.” Unfortunately, the drive was suddenly suspended on September 19.