Reverence for Achebe

Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, as part of this year’s 63rd Independence  anniversary reflected class and a sense of place for renaming the Anambra International Airport, Umuleri, the Chinua Achebe International Passenger and Cargo Airport. Chinua Achebe, the African literary icon, was born in Ogidi, a village in Anambra State, on November 16th, 1930 and he died on March 21st, 2013. This honour comes ten years after the passing of the novelist, popular for his first novel, Things Fall Apart, that has been widely read and translated into more than fifty languages and made into films.

While making the announcement, the governor told his audience that the decision to rename the airport after Achebe was arrived at consensually after wide consultations with stakeholders in the state. He recalled that despite the global image of the late literary icon, he had never really been honored in a remarkable way in his home state and renaming the airport after him was apposite.

The governor made reference to the two occasions in 2004 and 2011 when the legendary Achebe rejected the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) award and gave his reasons.  At one time, he rejected the national honour because in his words, “I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency.”

We recall however that the literary icon had before been honored in 1979 with Nigerian National Honor of Merit and Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). He also received the Nigerian Trophy for Literature. He won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.  He won the International Man Booker Prize in 2007, the St. Louis Literary Award and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2010. The author, poet and social critic Achebe had received many chieftaincy titles and University Honorary Doctorate awards from more than thirty colleges and universities across the globe.

Achebe won immortality with his literary works, and wrote chapters in the hearts of his many students. It is, therefore, commendable that the Anambra State government decided to rename the airport after the iconic author who stamped the name of Nigeria, nay Africa, on the global literary map  with his writing prowess.

We commend the government as this gesture is a step away from the usual official philistinism. This is a recognition of talent, a true reward for patriotism and for an intellectual and cultural ambassador. The value of world literature and the arts cannot be over-emphasized given their roles in our world. Achebe detested the western views about Africa and took a stand, told the story of the pre and post-colonial Igbo culture as an African. He didn’t stop at the story-telling, he wrote political satires and socially critical books like, A Man of the People, The Trouble With Nigeria, Arrow of God, There Was a Country, amongst others.

This honor is laudable because it will continue to tell the story of  the artist that Achebe was.  He continues even in death to be a rallying point for national and global discourse. An honor to him or any other artist is an affirmation of the value of art. Sadly, contemporary value system of the society has for long highlighted only politicians or some money bags whose life story do not tell much about service or social relevance. 

However, while commending the Anambra State government for rightly giving honour to whom honour is due, we want to caution that being a global icon, Achebe and the airport named after him must befit each other. Despite global economic strife, facilities at the airport must be upgraded to befit the stature of an Arts and Culture ambassador like Achebe. While the nation awaits a national monument that would earn the name of Achebe like in other countries with icons like Shakespeare, Beethoven, Piccaso, Charles Dickens , Mandela, Bob Marley, Brenda Fassie and the like, we urge the government to put requisite infrastructure at the airport that would befit Achebe.

The airport would henceforth attract the kind of attention that monuments  like the Shakespeare Theatre attracts in London. It might not be an art house or a theater but it has to be one of the best, if Achebe is in any way associated with it. Being a strong cultural man, we believe that if he rejected two national honors from two Nigerian Presidents, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan because he was dissatisfied with the way democracy was not benefitting the Anambra people and the nation at large, his spirit might not rest if in death his name is attached to an airport not matching his global image.

Achebe always tried to excel while carrying the people’s culture, hopes and aspirations through his writings. Being a cultural enthusiast, he believed in the Igbo cosmology that honors the spirit of the dead because the dead cannot speak for themselves but in the same way, the unappeased spirit can be very vindictively destructive. The governor being ‘nwa afo’ (son of the soil) Anambrarian must remember the cultural ethos of Ndigbo. Only the best is good enough, especially for the dead that has no choice in what their name is associated with.

While we commend state administrations dating back to the conception and execution of the airport project that was commissioned in 2021 by former  Governor Willy Obiano with state resources, we believe that the Federal Government must in some way contribute to standardizing the passenger and cargo airport for strategic socio-economic value in a region known for its commercial impact on the national economy. We equally suggest that the government reach out to the indigenes, both at home and in the diaspora, for functional partnerships that can make the airport a regional hub. 

We are hoping that this gesture will signpost the recognition of excellence in fields that are not political or through money-induced praise singing that seem to be common these days. We commend Governor Soludo for the great gesture. It is very encouraging to the younger ones who can now see that excellence can earn honors. We hope more people can be as diligent and patriotic enough to earn the honors that Achebe garnered in life and in death.

“Achebe had won immortality with his literary works, and had written chapters in the hearts of his many students. It is, therefore, commendable that the Anambra State government decided to rename the airport after the iconic author.”