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Prof. Emeka Aniagolu, Aurhor |
By Lois Otse Adams
Prof. Emeka Aniagolu is the second son of Honourable Justice A.N. Aniagolu, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (Rtd.) and a native of Amankwo, Eke in Enugu State, Nigeria.
Aniagolu who is married with two children, Asari Aniagolu and Nkiruka Aniagolu attended Government College Umuahia, he proceeded to study Political Science at the Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Political Science and History at the African and African American at Masters level and a Doctoral Work on Political Science – International Political Economy (IPE) and History both at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
He is the Executive Director of Research, Innovation and Development, Fides Et Ratio, Limited in the nation’s capital city, Abuja, Nigeria. He has previously worked as Professor of Government, African and African American Studies, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio from 1985 – 2017; Senior Lecturer at African and African American Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio between 1982 – 2016; Visiting Professor at the Center for International Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio between 2005 – 2017; Lead Instructor at the Private Industry Council, Columbus, Ohio between 2010 – 2015.
As a young man, he has explored his talent at the Grant Writer and Consultant to several organizations and Institutions in the United States; Ohio State University Private Industry Council; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Ohio-based literary magazine, African Weekender between 2000 – 2006.
Aniagolu has authored twenty works of fiction and non-fiction in the span of time; Black Mustard Seed (Fiction, 2002), nominated for the Commonwealth Writers Prize; African Glimpses: Three Short Stories (Fiction, 2004); Ozo: A Story of an African Knighthood (Historical Faction, 2005); Dreadlocks & the Seven Monsters (Political Satire, 2005); Beyond the Wealth of Nations Essays on a Search for Understanding, Community and Productivity (Political History/Theory, 2006); Standing on the Shoulders of Giants A Multicultural History of Western and World Civilization (Vol. I & II) (History, 2008); Hollows of the Mask (Sequel to Ozo: A Story of an African Knighthood) (Historical Faction, 2009); Co-Whites How and Why White Women “Betrayed” the Struggle for Racial Equality in the United States (Political History, 2011); and
Mind Flowers: Aphorisms (Non-fiction, 2012); The Epic of Onyeama N’ Eke (Epic Poem, 2014); God’s Children Too (Biographical Faction, 2014); Ejima (Historical Faction, 2015); The Hood and the Swastika: A Comparative Study of the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi Regime (Political History, 2016); A Tale of Two Giants Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka (Non-fiction, 2016); Aftermath (Historical Fiction – Sequel to Ejima, 2016); A Quiver of Arrows: Ten Short Stories (Fiction, 2018); Rainbow Nation? A Historical and Sociopolitical Analysis of Apartheid, Anti-Apartheid Struggle and Contemporary Xenophobia in the Republic of South Africa (Non-fiction, forthcoming, 2021) and Many Shades of Grey (A Collection of Poems, forthcoming, 2022).
Prof. Emeka Aniagolu whose sojourn in life has been impactful has been recognized with numerous excellence and performance awards and his leadership lifestyle has endeared him to the public, especially the Ohio University Community, political affairs and world of literature. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Management Consultants (IMC-Nigeria), 2020 with Membership Number FIMC.ABJ.3888.20; a recipient of Nigerians in Diaspora Organization America (NIDOA) Outstanding Community Service Award (2014); Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Commission Educational Excellence Award (2013); Living Faith Award in the State of Ohio (2005); The Ohio State University Teaching Excellence Award (1992), etc.
The last on his listing of 20 Books is the theme of this interview, out of the curiosity by the theme is the Book on Albino/Albinism, stars and styles did not waste time in approaching the author and Professor of Government, Emeka Aniagolu to further give an insight to his new novel, ‘Anyali’. A book of faction – based on an Albino character in Nigeria, mirroring the travails they go through in Africa, the uniquely written novel is billed for public Presentation and Launch on Nigeria’s Independence Day.
Excerpts:
You seem to be very passionate about the plight of People Living with Albinism (PLWA). What has inspired you?
Prof. Aniagolu: I do not know that I would characterize myself as especially passionate about the plight of Albinos in Nigeria. I am a social and political scientist, a historian by training, as well as an educator by profession. I am also a novelist who has written a number of literary works on certain sociocultural aspects of Igbo/Nigerian and African issues; with a view towards achieving certain educational objectives: (1) What is the true nature of the issue(s)? (2) How can people be made to have a clearer understanding and appreciation for the facts and/or myths surrounding or animating the issue(s)? and (3) What conceptual, historical and allegorical information/knowledge can be left behind for succeeding generations of Nigerians/Africans, who would be even more removed from the roots of those issues than ourselves; with which they can better understand our past, present and be better able to chart a more meaningful future for themselves.
What exactly are your major objectives for this publication?
Prof. Aniagolu: My objectives for this particular novel of mine, Anyali, is to make people – Nigerians and other Africans better understand the physiological/healthcare challenges Albinos face on a daily basis, besides the baseless prejudices, discrimination and myths about their albinism, they labour under for the duration of their lifetimes. It is also my objective to rescue their shared humanity with the rest of us, of which they are an inextricable part of. To make people appreciate their intelligence, determination, capacity for love and affection; despite their inherited condition of albinism. I could think of no better way of achieving those objectives in literary terms other than to write a full-length novel built around an albino as the central character. As a species, we are storytelling creatures. Human beings treasure a good story. So, if one succeeds in telling a good story about albinos/albinism, people will embrace it, and through that manifold, you can smuggle in salient lessons for their rational mind, and, hopefully, modify, if not change negative behaviour altogether.
Do you have any foundation advocating for other persons with disabilities? If yes, how did you achieve that?
Prof. Aniagolu: No, I do not.
There are these superstitious beliefs about Albinism, particularly in Nigeria. What is your view on this?
Prof. Aniagolu: You are right, there are a number of erroneous notions and beliefs about albinos/albinism in Nigeria, as in other parts of Africa. In fact, it is far worse in countries such as Tanzania and Burundi, than it is in Nigeria. In Tanzania, which is the worst case in Africa, people literally hunt down albinos like animals for their body parts, which is said to be potent as magical portions for money-making magic rituals. In Nigeria, they are not really physically accosted or manhandled, let alone murdered. However, they are generally shunned, suffer from employment discrimination, suffer educational handicaps, which redoubts in their employability; and, of course, they labour under the physical handicaps their albinism presents them. And because poverty tends to compound the plight of the vast majority of albinos in Nigeria, as elsewhere in Africa; their situation is made far worse by that fact.
What are your recommendations or suggestions to the government with regards to the provision of healthcare and other social security for albinos?
Prof. Aniagolu: My suggestions are that the government, through the Ministry of Health and None Government Organizations (NGOs) such as the Albino Foundation, should support as much as possible the basic health needs of Albinos: (1) Provision of the body creams that help protect them from the sun; (2) Access to eye care needs; (3) Educational Awareness Drives in schools and other public spaces in order to dispel many, if not most of the superstitions about albinos and albinism that exist out there. Of course, it behooves me to suggest that the government commit funds towards bulk purchase of books like Anyali, to be made available in secondary schools and universities; towards educating people and raising awareness about the phenomena.
What is your personal assessment of the Albino Foundation in Nigeria?
Prof. Aniagolu: It is doing a wonderful job! Their Chief Executive Officer, Jake Epelle, as soon as he read the book in manuscript form, endorsed it in unmistakable terms; and put the support of his organization behind the successful launching of the book, this Friday, October 1, 2021, at the Bazaar, Penthouse Floor, Safire Plaza, Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, 7:00pm, in Nigeria’s Federal Capital, Abuja. If one gets the same kind of response from the Ministry of Health and allied agencies, much can be achieved in the area of education.
Do you have other books relating to people living with disabilities to your credit?
Prof. Aniagolu: Yes, I have written two other novels, which I would classify as “sociocultural novels:” Hollows of the Mask, which addressed the plight of the so-called Osu, the outcaste system in traditional Igbo society; which still persists to this very day in some parts of Igbo land; and ‘Ejima’ which is the Igbo name for identical twins, and which, as you probably already know, once upon a time, used to be thrown away in Igbo land as amongst a few other peoples in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. While the practice of throwing away identical twins have long since been stopped in Igbo land, there still remained the great necessity to make the phenomena intelligible to people who, understandably, find it difficult to fathom it psychosocial roots; including Igbos of much younger generations. My new novel, Anyali, is very much in that tradition.
Have you at any time witnessed any discrimination against any Albino, be it emotionally or physically?
Prof. Aniagolu: Yes. On a somewhat personal level, it was when I was a young man in secondary school. He was one of the most intelligent boys in our cohort. But most, if not all of us, stayed our distance from him. His eyes darted from side-to-side, he was constantly squinting to read his book or the chalkboard; and his skin had black and brown spots as well as reddish blemishes. He never played outdoor sports with us, did not go with us to Debate Meets at girl’s secondary schools, though he was very smart and articulate. I did not realize at the time that he was being discriminated against.
The mere fact that we treated him as a “breed apart,” as some kind of a freak; was, in and of itself, a discriminatory act. Our “benign neglect,” our failure to acknowledge his humanity by positively including him in our friendships, games with us and participating in other convivial activities, must have made him feel terribly lonely and isolated. Of course, some boys would make fun of him and taunt him about his albinism. But I have personally never witnessed an albino being physically assaulted in Nigeria, which is not to say that such things may never have happened or still happening.
How do you hope to sustain this advocacy through publications of this kind?
Prof. Aniagolu: I will not characterize my novel, Anyali, as advocacy on behalf of Albinos, especially the standard civil society or NGOs sense and space. Rather, like I noted earlier, I consider it using the medium of literature to educate and entertain in a manner that, hopefully, enlightens an otherwise prejudiced individual to see the light of day, and hence, to change their ways. In the meantime, the work hopefully gives the reader a deeper insight into the mental and emotional horizon as well as interaction of someone with that condition and the African society into which they were born.
Is your advocacy capturing the Ministry of Health and other allied agencies on the safety and general protection of Albinos?
Prof. Aniagolu: It is still too early to tell. The book is hot off the press and will be launched on Friday, October 1, 2021, here in Abuja, Nigeria. Hopefully, the high officials in and of the Ministry of Health and allied agencies, through the good offices of the Albino Foundation, will be in attendance to support the rollout of the book. It is after that, that one can begin to see what such directly involved government entities will do as a consequence of the emergence of the book into the public space.
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