Prof. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is a literary icon that has been making her mark in the area of writing and literary activism to champion against gender issues and civil war in Nigeria
Ezeigbo, a lecturer, writer, novelist, critic, essayist, journalist, and administrator was born and raised in Eastern Nigeria, but now lives in Lagos. Though born in Eastern Nigeria, she has lived in different parts of the country – East, North and West. She has travelled extensively in Africa, Europe and in the USA. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Masters (MA) degrees in English from the University of Lagos and her Ph. D from University of Ibadan, in Nigeria. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) from University of Lagos. She was appointed a professor of English at University of Lagos in 1999.
She is a member of many academic associations such as The Literary Society of Nigeria, Modern Languages Association of Nigeria. She is an active member of some writers’ organizations and they include, The International PEN, PEN Nigeria, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and Women Writers Association of Nigeria (WRITA).
She is the First Vice President of PEN Nigeria. She served as the National Treasurer of ANA from 1995 to 1997 and the first Vice President of Women Writers’ Association of Nigeria. She is currently the Financial Secretary of WRITA. Professor Akachi Ezeigbo she speaks to OYELOLA OGUNRINDE on why the Nigerian Civil War should be taught in schools
Do you think the stories about Biafra have been well told enough?
One thing about a subject is that it can never be written enough. People are still writing about the First World War. People are still writing about slavery. People are still writing about our tradition and culture. So I cannot say everything has been written about the war. Each writer will approach it from his or her own perspective. So even those who are not born yet some of them will still write about this war in future. They will research it and write about it. One of the famous war novels was written by an American: The Red Badge of courage. That novel was written in I think eighteenth century and the man that wrote it wasn’t even born when the American civil war was fought and he did research on it and wrote a novel about it
Our history as regards to the war is not being taught in schools?
I think it is not right, you see I think we should teach our children our history and that is one of the things we are complaining about that history is no longer being taught in school. When I was a child I was taught history in the secondary school even in the University. I don’t know why we shouldn’t teach history in secondary school. In 2006 / 2007, I was at University of London on a fellowship and I was asked to give series of lectures on the Nigerian Civil War. Three lectures I gave there and the literature of the war and many Nigerian young people, most of them in their early twenties and thirties came to listen to me. Some of them in their Post-graduate, the one I remember studying Geology asked me ‘what is this civil war all about,’ I couldn’t believe it, I was asking them you mean your parents didn’t tell you about this war and they said no and this is very wrong. The reason why we should teach about the civil war in Nigeria is for our young people to know where we made mistakes and how we can correct our mistakes.
What do you think about the Nigeria Culture in relation to Young Nigerians?
Many don’t even speak about our culture which is too bad. Language is the carrier of a people’s culture. If you do not speak a language you will never understand the culture of that language and these are the challenges our young ones are facing. Until we start teaching about our language and culture to our people, we will hardly get it right. This is one thing I admire about the Japanese, when I was in Japan I saw how the Japanese are proud of their culture, everything was done in Japanese and we were given earphones translating different language.
What do you think about the challenges of publishing in Nigeria?
We need publishers in this country not self published publisher. Many young ones out there have good manuscripts yet not published.