Meet Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe

Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, P.C. (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as Nnamdi Azikiwe or Zik, was one of the leading figures of modern Nigerian nationalism. He served as the second and last Governor-General of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 and the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966, holding the presidency throughout the Nigerian First Republic. Born in Zungeru, in present-day Niger State, Azikiwe learned to speak Hausa, the main indigenous language of the Northern Region at an early age. He later lived in Onitsha, his parental homeland where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and learned the Igbo language. A sojourn in Lagos exposed him to the Yoruba language and he was in college, he had been exposed to different Nigerian cultures. Motivated to get a university education, he traveled to U.S. and attended various colleges including Storer College, Columbia University and Howard returning to Africa in 1934 to start work as a journalist in the Gold Coast. In British West Africa, Azikiwe was an important advocate of Nigerian and African nationalism, first as a journalist and later as political leader.

In Onitsha, he attended Holy Trinity School, a Roman Catholic Mission school and then Christ Church School, an Anglican primary school. In 1914, his father was working in Lagos and when Azikiwe was bitten by a dog, his father worried about Zik's health asked him to come to Lagos so as to heal and also attend school in the city. He was back in Onitsha by 1918 and finished his elementary education at CMS Central School where he also served as a pupil-teacher supporting his mother with some of his earnings. In 1920, he started his secondary school at Hope Waddell Training College in Calabar where he was introduced to the teachings of Marcus Garvey, Garveyism later an important part in his nationalistic rhetoric.

Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe
Commander In Chief

After Hope Waddell, Calabar, Azikwe transferred to Methodist Boys High School Lagos. There he was friends with classmates from old Lagos families such as George Shyngle, Francis Cole and Ade Williams, the son of Akarigbo Remo, connections that served in later in Lagos. While at Methodist, he listened to a lecture delivered by James Aggrey, an educationist who believed that nothing but the best was good for Africa. Aggrey also believed Africans should get collegiate education abroad and come home to effect change. After the lecture, Aggrey gave the young Zik a list of schools accepting black students in America. After completing his secondary education, Zik applied to the colonial service and was accepted as a clerk in the treasury department. His entry to colonial service also made him face the racial bias within the colonial government. Determined to travel abroad to study, he applied to various universities in the U.S and received admission from Storer College, whose president responded that they will like to have him if he can find a way to America. To reach America, he contacted a seaman and made a deal with him to become a stowaway. However, one of his friends on the ship fell sick and they were advised to disembark in Sekondi. In Ghana Zik got employment as a police officer. While working in Ghana, his mother visited him and asked him to return to Nigeria, Zik reluctantly headed his mother request. When he arrived Nigeria, his father was ready to sponsor his trip to U.S, and Zik 300 pounds to travel to U.S.

Azikiwe first attended Storer College, a two-year preparatory school, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. In U.S he took to doing various odd jobs to support his tuition and living expenses. He initially struggled working without a major sponsorship and also feeling lonesome and depressed, feelings he later overcame. Azikiwe participated in Storer's athletics and cross-country teams before he transferred to Howard University, Washington DC, He then enrolled and graduated from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, in 1930, obtaining a master's degree in Religion from Lincoln University in 1932 and another master's degree in Anthropology from University of Pennsylvania in 1934. Azikiwe became a graduate student instructor in the history and political science department at Lincoln creating an African history course. He was a candidate for a doctorate degree from Columbia before returning to Nigeria in 1934. His main doctorate research was Liberia in world politics and the research paper was published by A.H. Stockwell in 1934. During the time he was in America, Azikiwe was a columnist for the Baltimore Afro-American, Philadelphia Tribune and the Associated Negro Press. He was influenced by the ideals of the African American press, Garveyism and Pan-Africanism while writing for those papers.

President

On 16 November 1960, he became the Governor General, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister. On the same day became the first Nigerian named to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. With the proclamation of a republic in 1963, he became the first President of Nigeria. In both posts, Azikiwe's role was largely ceremonial.

Azikiwe and his civilian colleagues were removed from power in the military coup of 15 January 1966. He was the most prominent politician to escape the spate of assassinations following the coup. During the Biafran (1967–1970) war of secession, Azikiwe became a spokesman for the nascent republic and an adviser to its leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. He switched allegiance back to Nigeria during the war and publicly appealed to Ojukwu to end the war in pamphlets and interviews published at the time.

After the war, he served as Chancellor of University of Lagos from 1972 to 1976. He joined the Nigerian People's Party in 1978, making unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 1979 and again in 1983. He left politics involuntarily after the military coup on 31 December 1983. He died on 11 May 1996, at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, inEnugu, Enugu State, after a protracted illness. He was buried in his native Onitsha.

Legacy

Places named after Azikiwe include the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State, Nnamdi Azikiwe Press Centre, Dodan Barracks, Obalende, Ikoyi, Lagos. Azikiwe Avenue, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His portrait adorns Nigeria's five hundred naira currency note.

Achievements

He was inducted into the prestigious Agbalanze society of Onitsha as Nnanyelugo in 1946, a customary recognition for Onitsha men of significant accomplishment. Then, in 1962, he became a second-rank red cap chieftain or Ndichie Okwa as the Oziziani Obi. In 1972, he was installed as the Owelle-Osowa-Anya of Onitsha, making him a first-rank, hereditary red cap nobleman or Ndichie Ume.

In 1960, He established the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Queen Elizabeth II appointed him to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He was conferred with the highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 1980. He has received fourteen honorary degrees from Nigerian, American and Liberian universities, which include Lincoln University, Storer College, Howard University, Michigan State University, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ibadan, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, and University of Liberia.

Politics

During his lifetime, he held several political posts, especially in Nigeria. They include Executive Committee Member of Mambili Party, Accra (1935–37); General Secretary of National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (1944–45); President of the NCNC (1946–60); Vice-President of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (1947–60); Member for Lagos in the Legislative Council of Nigeria (1947–51); Member for Lagos and Leader of the Opposition in the Western House of Assembly (1952–53) Member for Onitsha in the Eastern House of Assembly (1954–60); Minister of Internal Affairs (Jan.–September 1954); Minister of Internal Affairs, Eastern Region (1954); Member of His Excellency Privy Council, Eastern Nigeria (1954–59); Primer of Eastern Nigeria (1954–59); President of the Senate of the Federation (January–November 1960); Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria (1960–63); President of the Republic of Nigeria (1963–1966); and Chairman and Presidential candidate of the Nigeria People's Party (1978–83).

Professional world

He made a name for himself in the professional world. The many posts he held included: Third-class Clerk, Treasury Department, Lagos (1921–24); Recruit, Gold Coast Police Force (July–September 1924); Solicitor Clerk to the late Mr. Justice Graham Paul at Calabar (January – August 1925); Instructor in Political Science, Lincoln University (1931–34); University Correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American (1928–34); General and Sports Correspondent for the Philadelphia Tribune (1928–34); Editor-in Chief of the West African Pilot (1937–45); Correspondent for the Associated Negro Press (1944–47); Correspondent for Reuters (1944–46); Managing Director of Zik's Press Limited printers and publishers of the West African Pilot (Lagos), Eastern Guardian (Port Harcourt), Nigerian Spokesman (Onitsha), Southern Nigeria Defender (Ibadan), Daily Comet (Kano), andEastern Sentinel (Enugu); Managing Director of Comet Press Limited (1945–53); Chairman of West African Pilot Limited and the Associated Newspapers of Nigeria Limited and six other limited liability companies (1952–53); Chairman, Nigerian Real Estate Corporation Limited (1952–53).

Societies and Organizations

He was a member of many organizations and societies, including Anti-Slavery Society for the protection of Human Rights; Phi Beta Sigma fraternity (Mu Chapter); West African Students' Union; Onitsha Improvement Union; Zik's Athletic Club; Ekine Sekiapu Society of Buguma, Kalabari; St. John's Lodge of England; Royal Economic Society; Royal Anthropological Institute; British Association for the Advancement of Science; American Society of International Law; American Anthropological Association; American Political Science Association; American Ethnological Society; Amateur Athletic Association of Nigeria; Nigerian Swimming Association, Nigerian Boxing Board of Control; Nigerian Cricket Association; Ibo State Union; Nigerian Table Tennis Association; Nigeria Olympic Committee and British Empire and Commonwealth Games Association.

Works

Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943), Economic Reconstruction of Nigeria (1943), Before Us Lies the Open Grave (1947), The Future of Pan-Africanism (1961), The Realities of African Unity (1965), Origins of the Nigerian Civil War (1969), I Believe in One Nigeria (1969), Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War (1969), Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9 December 1976, on the eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund (1976), Our Struggle for Freedom; Onitsha Market Crisis (1976), Let Us Forgive Our Children. An appeal to the leaders and people of Onitsha during the market crisis (1976), etc.

Notable quotes

"There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity" — from My Odyssey, No. 5.

"My stiffest earthly assignment is ended and my major life's work is done. My country is now free and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous head of state. What more could one desire in life?" — talking about Nigeria's Independence on 1 October 1960.

SOURCE: Wikipedia