Onye Nkuzi, according to Dr. Okwuosa, “is a historical biography which stands out in the league of contemporary Nigerian biographies

Simeon Mpamugoh

Onye Nkuzi, Teacher, Statesman, Icon of Education, a historical biography, offers riveting insights into the life and times of a grandee – Honorable Reuben Ibekwe Uzoma, OBE, OFR, LL.D (honoris causa), and his immeasurable contributions to nation building and the laying of solid foundation for the education sector in Nigeria. Its academic approach has been described as “an interdisciplinary analytical field in its own right placed in a battlefield of multifarious narrative forms”. To be publicly presented in October 2018 at Sandralia Hotel, Utako, ABUJA, comes from the stable of Safari Books Ltd, Ibadan.

The 350-Page book is the work of two female academics — Dr. Adaoha Okwuosa, OON, who is the author and Nonye Nnamezie as co-author. While Dr. Okwuosa is a political sociologist, retired Federal Permanent Secretary and former ECOWAS Commissioner from an academic background, Nonye Nnamezie is a historian/ biographer who honed her academic career as a lecturer at the University of Lagos.

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R.I. Uzoma was a Member of the Eastern Regional Assembly under the Self-Government Macpherson Constitution of 1951 who served as the first Minister of Education in the Eastern Regional Government from 1951 to 1953. R.I. Uzoma’s colleagues in the education portfolio at the time, across the nascent Nigerian Federation, were: Hon. Shettima Kashim, (Central government, under Social Services), Hon. Aliyu Makama Bida (North, Under Social Services), and Hon. S.H.O Awokoya of UPE fame in the West.

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Onye Nkuzi, according to Dr. Okwuosa, “is a historical biography which stands out in the league of contemporary Nigerian biographies by adopting a uniquely insightful perspective in biographical documentation. The book sets out to show that a historical biography provides a record that is more than a ‘tunnel-narrative’ on the personality who is its subject. It is a rich store of collateral and archival material on social sector development in the East from the 1920s to the 1980s. It also documents interesting aspects of the history of formal education in Nigeria, through the committed role of the voluntary (or non-governmental) agencies such as the CMS (Church Missionary Society), and the early educated elite who drove that process.”

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Writing in the Foreword, Emeritus Professor of Education, O. C. Nwana, states that the book “is a highly recommended reading and reference material for all who wish to have an informed insight into the important contributions of the Anglican Mission as a voluntary agency, in the early development of education in the former Eastern Region (of Nigeria).

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Against the background of the numerous challenges that have beset the education sector in our contemporary society, this book also provides a view into a past and admirable age of formal education operations, and of the teaching profession. It is equally a contribution regarding the strength and calibre of the great men and women like R. I. Uzoma who pioneered that regrettably now bygone age”.

The author Dr. Okwuosa obtained her D.Phil degree in 1975 from the University of Freiburg in Germany as a scholar of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation. Onye Nkuzi’s title derives from R.I Uzoma’s early career sobriquet as a young teacher and educator. He was popularly referred to as Onye Nkuzi, meaning The Teacher/Counselor or, simply, someone who leads the way.

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