Why Nigeria is crawling. - Uche Azikiwe

We used to eat every meal together except when one of us was not at home. It’s something that bonds the family together. After eating, we would relax and chat. We argued and disagreed to agree. I had fun arguing with him even though I might not be correct and he would always caution me. He would say you have to be diplomatic, you are not diplomatic and I would say, why should I be diplomatic when I know that this is what it is. He would say, no, there is a way you have to put it, so it doesn’t just come out like that. You know these are fond memories and as I told you he was very protective of his family, but to me, it was a sign of love and care. He wouldn’t want anything to happen to any member of his family. That was why if you went out and didn’t return by 6pm, he would start worrying. I am happy that he is resting in peace because he did a good job for Nigeria and Africa.

After my National Youth Service Corps programme, I became hungry for more education. I had a master’s degree in curriculum education, development and planning. It was around that time in the 80s that gender issues came up, so I got interested in gender issues. I wanted to do my PhD in something related to gender issues and they said no, because my master’s degree was in curriculum education, development and planning. They said I must do something on gender issues before doing PhD in the same field. So I went to get a second master’s degree, this time in sociology of education and gender issues and my PhD in the same field. I will tell you how my husband appreciated my going to school. Every Christmas, he would give me a card and on February 4, my birthday too, he would give me a card and a letter.

I met him through his scholarship scheme. I danced in my hometown – Afikpo – during the electioneering campaigns of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons in the 60s; there were four of us. We were there to receive politicians coming to Afikpo for campaign, so we danced. In the end, he gave me a scholarship to go to secondary school and other things. My elder sister, who was the leader of the group, was given a job in Lagos. I don’t know what was done for the other two because there were four us. It was before the war, so the war disrupted my education as it did to everybody in the East.