When libraries die.

   I woke up one morning to the news of *** ****** passing. I didn’t know anything about him, except I’d heard his name before. When I found he died at 92, I was sad.   

    About two months ago, Chief Akintola Williams passed away. He was 104. Which means he was born in 1919. He was 40 when Awo established the WNTV, 41 when Nigeria gained independence, 48 at the start of the civil war, 51 at its end, and 57 when President Muritala Mohammed was assassinated.

   This senior citizen was an eye witness to every major event in our country. What would it have been like to interview him?

   I love history. Stories of long ago people in long ago times doing long ago things fascinate me. So because there is very little of my own history to consume, I have gorged on other people’s history.

   I know more of European and American than I know of Nigerian or African history. That is why I am sad every time a senior citizen passes. I feel like they have so much they could tell us, yet no one has taken the time to ask them about our history.

   There are many great stories about Nigerians who have lived. And who are living. Stories that will tell us we too are valuable as a people, despite the constant barrage that scream the opposite. 

Take for instance Dr. Ameyo Adadevo. Her courage and sacrifice stopped Ebola in its tracks. Her death  saved lives. Likely thousands of lives. Take Dora Akunyili, that extraordinary  one time NAFDAC boss. She was so phenomenal, that the idea of things )and I mean anything, not just food and drugs) having a NAFDAC number became a popular way of saying you had the original and healthy item.

   And in history? There was the Aba women’s riot in 1929, when fearless women rose to fight the cruel tax regime of the British. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Fela’s mother, also rose with the Egba women folk in a protest that saw the Alake of Egbaland abdicate his throne in 1949.

   And I can just hear every feminist saying; ‘These are all women! So why won’t you stupid men get out of the way and let us run things?’ For the men, I’m going to tell you something that floored me when I saw it.

    Did you know that in America, the black movement against racism that brought Malcom X and Martin Luther King to prominence,  was sparked when the negro population saw leading Africans of the 30s, 40s and 50s stand toe to toe with white world leaders and argue for African independence?

   Prior to this, men like Marcus Garvey and Elijah Mohammed had tried to raise black consciousness, teaching them about black equality. But it was only when that equality was demonstrated on the floor of the UN by Awo, Azikwe, Nkrumah et al, that Black America saw her true worth and rose as a body to fight white oppression.

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See Malcom X and James Baldwin (James Baldwin was a prominent writer and a part of the Martin Luther King movement) making this point in the videos below. I’ve fixed the videos to start at the point they are talking about it.

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   Did you know that Emmanuel Ifejuna, the leader of the 1966 coup, was the first black African to win a gold medal at an international sports event (the Commonwealth Games)? Did you know that Awo’s WNTV  was the first in all Africa, broadcasting before countries like Norway, Netherlands and New Zealand had TV? 

   Did you know that the first live satellite two way call by heads of governments was between Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and JFK?

   One last one before I bore you to death. Chief Akintola Williams, the senior citizen I mentioned above, founded the first indigenous chartered accounting firm in Africa.   

   The trouble is, we’re struggling so hard with hunger and poverty, that we have very little time and resources, if any at all, to look at our history, and know ourselves better. But what is most painful to me, is when libraries die.

   For someone said, because of our oral tradition, when an elderly person dies in Africa, it is equivalent to burning down a library.

   If you have relatives who are above 75 years old and still clear minded, do us all a favor. Ask them how things were back in the day. Make a video of it, or just an audio recording. And post on your social media handle. But if you want me to turn cartwheels on Third Mainland Bridge at rush hour, send it to me. It will be a beautiful experience to hear an eye witness account of how our country used to be.