Onye-Nkuzi: Teacher, Statesman, Icon of Education, a historical biography which offers riveting insights into the life and times of a grandee—Honorable Reuben Ibekwe Uzoma, OBE, OFR, LL.D (honoris causa) is to be presented to the public in October.
The academic approach of the book that also focuses on Uzoma’s immeasurable contributions to nation building and the laying of solid foundation for the education sector in Nigeria, has been described as “an interdisciplinary analytical field in its own right placed in a battlefield of multifarious narrative forms”.
The 350-page book from the stable of Safari Books Ltd, Ibadan, is the work of two female academics—Dr. Adaoha Okwuosa OON, who is the author and Nonye Nnamezie as co-author.
While Dr. Okwuosa is a political sociologist, retired federal permanent secretary and former ECOWAS commissioner from an academic background, the co-author Nonye Nnamezie, is a historian/biographer who honed her academic career as a lecturer at the University of Lagos.
Uzoma was a Member of the Eastern Regional Assembly under the Self-Government MacPherson Constitution of 1951 who served as the first Minister of Education in the Eastern Regional Government from 1951 to 1953. His colleagues in the education portfolio at the time, across the nascent Nigerian Federation, were: Hon. Shettima Kashim, (Central government, under Social Services), Hon. Aliyu Makama Bida (North,Under Social Services), and Hon. S.H.O Awokoya of UPE fame in the West.
Onye-Nkuzi according to Dr. Okwuosa, “is a historical biography which stands out in the league of contemporary Nigerian biographies by adopting a uniquely insightful perspective in biographical documentation. The book sets out to show that a historical biography provides a record that is more than a ‘tunnel-narrative’ on the personality who is its subject. It is a rich store of collateral and archival material on Social sector development in the East from the 1920s to the 1980s. It also documents interesting aspects of the history of formal education in Nigeria, through the committed role of the voluntary (or non-governmental) agencies such as the CMS (Church Missionary Society), and the early educated elite who drove that process.”
Writing the Foreword, Emeritus Professor of Education, O. C. Nwana states that the book “is a highly recommended reading and reference material for all who wish to have an informed insight into the important contributions of the Anglican Mission as a voluntary agency, in the early development of education in the former Eastern Region(of Nigeria). Against the background of the numerous challenges that have beset the education sector in our contemporary society, this book also provides a view into a past and admirable age of formal education operations, and of the teaching profession. It is equally a contribution regarding the strength and calibre of the great men and women like R. I. Uzoma who pioneered that regrettably now bygone age”.
Dr. Okwuosa obtained her D.Phil degree in 1975 from the University of Freiburg in Germany as a scholar of the Freidrich-Ebert-Foundation. She draws from her background to recognise that the historical biographical style, which has long since thrived in European academics, has no yet received adequate attention in Nigerian academics. This is “because of the preference for auto-biographies, and the fast-track biographies that are written to coincide promptly with the obsequies of personalities.” Onye-Nkuzi is a well-crafted contribution towards addressing that gap.
The book title derives from Uzoma’s early career sobriquet as a young teacher and educator. He was popularly referred to as Onye-Nkuzi, meaning—The Teacher/Counselor or simply; someone who leads the way.
The book will be presented at Sandralia Hotel, Utako, Abuja.