Onuora Nzekwu
Onuora Nzekwu, also known as Joseph Onuora Nzekwu (born February 19, 1928) is a Nigerian professor, writer and editor from the Igbo people.
Nzekwu was born to Mr. Obiese Nzekwu and Mrs. Mary Ogugua Nzekwu (née Aghadiuno). In January 1956, he joined the Federal Civil Service as an Editorial Assistant at the Nigeria Magazine Division of the Federal Ministry of Information. Nzekwu worked as an Editorial Assistant from 1956 to 1958. In 1958, he took over the position of Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. Nzekwu continued to run the Nigeria Magazine Division of the Federal Ministry of Information until 1966, when the Nigerian Crisis compelled him to transfer his services to the Eastern Nigeria Public Service.
Nzekwu began as a Senior Information Officer at Eastern Nigeria, a post that the combined the roles of Information Ministry and Cultural officer. In 1968, he was promoted Deputy Director of the newly created Cultural Division. At the end of hostilities in January 1970, Nzekwu returned to the Federal Ministry of Information in May and was assigned to the information division as Senior Information Officer.
Nzekwu worked as Protem General Manager of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) until July 1, 1979, when he then took over the position of Substantive General Manager. Nzekwu retired from the Nigeria Public Service in 1985, after presiding over the affairs of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for nearly eight years and servicing his country’s government for 39 years.
Awards
Onuora Nzekwu received the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1961, which enabled him to study American Methods of Magazine Production with Crafts Horizons in New York. In 1964, Nzekwu was awarded an UNESCO Fellowship which allowed him to study Copyright Administration for three months in Geneva, Prague, Paris, London, New York and Washington.
On August 8, 2006, NAN observed its 30th Anniversary during celebrations at Abuja. The Agency presented a plaque to with the engraving “Maker of NAN,” to Nzekwu. In December, 2008, Nzekwu was conferred with the Nigerian National Honor of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).
Publications
Nzekwu has also authored several novels. Nzekwu co-authored Eze Goes to School and Eze Goes to College with historian Michael Crowder. The two school supplementary readers were first published by African University Press in 1964 and 1988 respectively.
In 1977, Nzekwu published his first non-fiction work titled, The Chima Dynasty in Onitsha, in which he presented the history of Onitsha through an account of the reign of its monarchs. Nzekwu's novel, Faith of Our Fathers, a compendium of the arts, beliefs, social institutions and code of values that characterize the Onitsha traditional community was published in 2003.
Personal Life
Nzekwu married Onoenyi Justina Ogbenyeanu, daughter of Chief Isaac Aniegboka Mbanefo, Odu II of Onitsha, in June 1960 and was inducted into the ancient and prestigious Agbalanze Society of Onitsha in May 1991.
Works
- Eze Goes to School (1966)
- Wand of Noble Wood (1961)
- Blade Among the Boys (1962)
- Highlife for Lizards (1965)
- Troubled Dust (2012)
- "Ahmad Daggash (Story of the True)"(2016)
References
- Nzekwu, Onuora. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 20, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056593
- Nigerians Don't Read as Expected - Onuora Nzekwu (Eze Goes to School Author). March 3, 2012. https://bivnze.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/nigerians-dont-read-as-expected-onuora-nzekwu-eze-goes-to-school-author/