THERE WAS A COUNTRY; A PERSONAL HISTORY OF BIAFRA - MY REVIEW (Part One)

By Olowogboyega Olumuyiwa.

Chinua Achebe is at best a shadowy figure to many Nigerians of this present generation, popular and successful author, "rejecter-in-chief" of two national awards. He is notably known for his Magnum Opus, "Things Fall Apart". Achebe is quite rightly a figure to reckon with in Africa, and indeed the world.

 

Recent uproar about his new book "There was a country; A personal History of Biafra" prompted me to hunt down and read this literary "hot coal". Needless to say, the book made the hunt well worth it. In this book, Chinua Achebe bares his mind in a forthright albeit, simple manner, the language and form of this work is as simple as always.

 

Achebe starts off his book by acquainting us with his family.We're introduced to his father's Uncle, Udoh, "a very generous and tolerant man". He received the first batch of English missionaries in His compound, eventually paving the way for his nephew, Chinua Achebe's father, to associate with the Missionaries. Achebe's father received an education and became one of the early Christian converts.

Despite receiving the foreign religion, Achebe's father still held a deep and profound respect for his "heathen" Uncle. On a few occasions, he tried to convert him to Christianity, "Uncle Udoh"; a proud traditionalist would have no part in this. This religious "tension" between his father and Uncle Udoh would influence the young Chinua Achebe's views on religion in his formative years.

Achebe's mother is the "Strong silent type", educated up to Primary level (unusual for women in those days), a competent helpmeet for her catechist/teacher husband.

We're taken through the author's early life and education, his Primary Education at St. Philip's Central School where he judged himself as being a "hardworking pupil". He provides an illustration of an event

"On a hot and humid day during the wet season, our Geography teacher decided to move our entire class to the cool shade of a large mango tree. After setting up a blackboard he proceeded to give the class a lesson on Geography of Great Britain. The Village "madman" came by, and after standing and listening to the teacher's lesson for a short while, walked up to him, snatched the chalk from his hand, wiped the blackboard, and proceeded to give us an extended lesson on Ogidi, my hometown…..

Looking back, it is instructive, in my estimation, that it was this so called madman whose clarity of perspective first identified the incongruity of our situation"

The young Achebe sat for an entrance examination into Government College,Umuahia.  He was offered a full scholarship to this newly established School.

It was at Government College he met Chike Momah, Ben Uzochukwu and a man who would become one of his long-time and closest friends, Christopher Okigbo who he calls an "extraordinary person", "energetic and so fearless".

Achebe's good fortune persists when the colonial government announced its intention to start a University College in West Africa. After coming first in yet another entrance examination, Chinua Achebe received a "major scholarship" to study medicine at University College, Ibadan. He studied alongside a crop of remarkable Nigerians; Gamaliel Onosode, Flora Nwapa, Igwe Aja Nwachukwu amongst others.

The author points out that his decision to study medicine was purely based on external pressures, and his decision to switch allegiance to the Faculty of Arts would come with a dire price; the loss of his Scholarship.

It is important to note at this point, that the author starts to provide an insight into the country that was once functional, effective and administratively capable. He tells us that after his graduation from University College, he had no worries about unemployment that plagues every young Nigerian graduate of this present age…

"The system was so well organized that as we left University most of us were instantly absorbed into Civil Service, academia, business or industry. We trusted-I did, anyway-the country and its rulers to provide this preparatory education and then a job to serve the nation. I was not disappointed. I went home to my village at the end of the holiday and visited a secondary school within my district, called the Merchants of Light, in Oba, near Ogidi. I asked the principal to give me a job as an English teacher. And he did!"

The young Chinua Achebe later joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and was privileged to rise through the ranks and in time he was appointed "Director of external broadcasting". Joining the Broadcasting service at that time helped the young author hone his writing skills and it was at this time he wrote his Magnum Opus, "Things Fall Apart". In his own words… "I was conscripted by the story, and I was writing it at all times…it felt like a sentence, an imprisonment of creativity. 

   

After the standard fare of rejection from publishers, Achebe's book got into the hands of Alan Hill and Donald McRae, executives of Heinemann. Under their guidance, Heinemann published Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" to mixed reviews with kind words from the Observer and Time and Tide.

  

Achebe soon takes us down Nigeria's road to Independence, he contends that in the period between the '40's and the '50's, there was a silent anticipation in Nigeria, a sense, nay, an expectation of great things to come. This feeling was further heightened when Nigeria's neighbours Ghana, gained her Independence in 1957, as friendly but competitive neighbours, this further heightened the sense of expectation among Nigerians.

   

We are further introduced to someone Achebe calls the "Father of African Independence", popularly known as "Zik", NnamdiAzikiwe, a prominent political figure of that period and the founder of the newspaper, "The West African Pilot", a newspaper that would gain credence by speaking the mind of its masses as well as for its clear and simple written manner.

   

Worthy of Achebe's mention is also Herbert Macualey, the "father of Nigerian nationalism" and the first President of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) founded in 1922.

   

Awolowo is also singled out as an erudite lawyer, learned but considered "radical and a bit of an upstart".

In Nigeria's race towards Independence, these three played pivotal roles.

(To be continued...)

The writer is on twitter @moscomoet