Biography/Autobiography
The Ikemba : Remembering Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
The Ikemba : Remembering Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (1933 - 2011) is a journey through the bravery, unique charisma, profound courage, rare intellect, selfless service, nationalism and unequivocal response to national issues of the late iconic Ikemba of Nnewi, General of the People' Army and Eze Igbo Gburugburu- Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
THE FASHOLA YEARS By Lukman Olaonipekun
The book THE FASHOLA YEARS is a comprehensive photographic documentation of Governor Fashola’s activities programmes and projects in the sectors of education, health, transportation, Infrastructure, Security, Environment, tourism, Housing, Law and Order and Goveranance in Lagos State, from 2007 to 2015 by his official and personal photographer Lukman Olaonipekun. There is accompanying text of facts and figures
A Matter of Sharing: My Memoir By A.B. Assensoh
A Matter of Sharing is a memoir of Ghana-born A.B. Assensoh, who has lived, studied, and worked in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Liberia, where he served in editorial capacities. From Sweden, where he studied at the University of Stockholm and also served as Editor of African Features Service in Scandinavia, he moved to the United States in the mid-1970s, first to serve as a Scholar-in-Residence at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania as well as University of Pennsylvania, and he has lived there ever since. His memoir serves as his recollections of events that bring happiness, mixed feelings and, sometimes, sorrow. Apart from sharing anecdotes of some of the events in West Africa of London, this is the first time that he has committed many of the details.
Cradle of Ideas: A Compendium of Speeches and Writing of Omo N’ Oba Erediauwa of Great Benin Edited By Osarhieme Benson Osadolor
These are, indeed, trying times for Nigeria and its constituent ethnic nationalities. Political instability threatens to rear its ugly head once again, ethnic militias and insurgencies endanger the continued existence of the country, crime and criminality have assumed crisis proportions, and the economy remains in a long- term state of underperformance. In these circumstances, there isneedfor a well-researched book detailing the reasons for these manifestations of systematic failure and proposing a realistic way forward.
The book has been conveniently arranged in six parts as follows:
A. Cultural Development, Traditional Institutions and Governance.
B. Exploring the Past.
C. Vision from the Ivory Tower.
D. Education, Social Mobilization and Sport.
E. Politics, Economics and the State.
F. Media, Religion and Standard of Service.
While it is tempting to review this path-breaking publication by going from one category to the other, the danger is that the output will be excessively long and unnecessarily narrative. The preferred approach adopted is that which is essentially analytic. This requires regrouping into fewer categories in which the world-view or ideological perspective of the revered author arc captured. These are Politics/Constitution Making, Education and Religion.
The book has been conveniently arranged in six parts as follows:
A. Cultural Development, Traditional Institutions and Governance.
B. Exploring the Past.
C. Vision from the Ivory Tower.
D. Education, Social Mobilization and Sport.
E. Politics, Economics and the State.
F. Media, Religion and Standard of Service.
While it is tempting to review this path-breaking publication by going from one category to the other, the danger is that the output will be excessively long and unnecessarily narrative. The preferred approach adopted is that which is essentially analytic. This requires regrouping into fewer categories in which the world-view or ideological perspective of the revered author arc captured. These are Politics/Constitution Making, Education and Religion.
Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography By Sule E. Egya
In this literary biography, Sule E. Egya, one of Nigeria’s most promising scholar-critics, brings the skills of the storyteller and the scholar to bear on his recreation of the Osundare story. The result is a readable coming-of-age story that traces the writer’s development from his rural and agrarian roots in Nigeria, through his education in Africa, Europe and North America, to his rise to prominence as one of the most versatile poets writing in English today.
There can be no better platform to register the debt that Osundare owes his parentage, the rigorous discipline of his mentors and the diverse environments in which his outlook on the world has been shaped than this carefully crafted biography. Egya highlights Osundare’s prodigious talent, his unwavering ethical compass, his infectious humanism, his enduring faith in the capacity of literature to reshape the world, and the harmony between his creative imagination and polemical writing. Readers and critics will find the biography an indispensable companion to reading Osundare not just because of the illuminating personal and cultural information that it offers, but also because it equally periodizes Osundare’s work in a way no other book has done.
Prof. Oyeniyi Okunoye, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
In Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography, Sule E. Egya takes us on a journey of the life experiences of the artist-scholar Niyi Osundare. Indeed, there are some books a reader just can’t put down. This is one of them. It takes you to the other worlds beyond the popular world of artistry and scholarship of one of Africa’s most accomplished men of letters.
Dr. Ogaga Okuyade, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sule E. Egya is professor of African Literature and Cultural Studies at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Nigeria. He was formerly Head of the Department of English and Dean of Faculty of Languages and Communication Studies. Widely published and travelled, his interests include literature and politics, literature and the environment, literary theory, and creative writing. He is also an award-winning writer, having authored works of poetry and fiction under the style name E. E. Sule. Among his works are Sterile Sky, winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Prize Africa Region, and the AHP-sponsored Nation, Power and Dissidence in Third Generation Nigerian Poetry in English.
There can be no better platform to register the debt that Osundare owes his parentage, the rigorous discipline of his mentors and the diverse environments in which his outlook on the world has been shaped than this carefully crafted biography. Egya highlights Osundare’s prodigious talent, his unwavering ethical compass, his infectious humanism, his enduring faith in the capacity of literature to reshape the world, and the harmony between his creative imagination and polemical writing. Readers and critics will find the biography an indispensable companion to reading Osundare not just because of the illuminating personal and cultural information that it offers, but also because it equally periodizes Osundare’s work in a way no other book has done.
Prof. Oyeniyi Okunoye, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
In Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography, Sule E. Egya takes us on a journey of the life experiences of the artist-scholar Niyi Osundare. Indeed, there are some books a reader just can’t put down. This is one of them. It takes you to the other worlds beyond the popular world of artistry and scholarship of one of Africa’s most accomplished men of letters.
Dr. Ogaga Okuyade, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sule E. Egya is professor of African Literature and Cultural Studies at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Nigeria. He was formerly Head of the Department of English and Dean of Faculty of Languages and Communication Studies. Widely published and travelled, his interests include literature and politics, literature and the environment, literary theory, and creative writing. He is also an award-winning writer, having authored works of poetry and fiction under the style name E. E. Sule. Among his works are Sterile Sky, winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Prize Africa Region, and the AHP-sponsored Nation, Power and Dissidence in Third Generation Nigerian Poetry in English.
Academics, Epidemics and Politics: An Eventful Career in Public Health by IDRIS MOHAMMED (Paperback)
Prof. Mohammed, an academic, researcher, and public health physician gives us his lucid views on how physicians can practice medicine in an unjust world.
Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Culture Studies By Anne V. Adams (Editor)
The volume ‘Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies’ (2012) pays tribute to a woman writer from the African continent who has touched worldwide audiences and acknowledges her status as a ‘literary mover and shaker’. The literary-criticism core of the book is complemented by papers on such issues as African oratory, new media, popular culture texts, African identity, race construction and gendered image.
Ama Ata Aidoo was born in Abeadzi Kyiakor in what was then the Gold Coast (later Ghana) in 1940 and grew up in a Fante royal household. She attended Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast and then the University of Ghana at Legon from 1961-1964 where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. During this time, she also wrote her first play, ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’, which came out in 1965 and made her the first African woman dramatist to be published.
Since then, Aidoo has written other plays, novels, short stories and poetry as well as numerous essays on African literature and the status of women in African society. One of her best known novels is ‘Our Sister Killjoy, or, Reflections from a Black-eyed Squint’ (1977). She has won many literary awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa) for her second novel, ‘Changes: a Love Story’ (1991). Aidoo’s works of fiction deal with the tension between Western and African world views and the politics of gender and sexual inequality in African society.
In addition to her literary career, Aidoo was appointed Minister of Education under the Provisional National Defence Council in 1982, but resigned after 18 months. She then moved to Zimbabwe to become a full-time writer. She has also lived and worked in the US, the UK and Germany. Aidoo was a long-term Visiting Professor in Africana Studies and the Literary Arts at Brown University.
iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business By Jeffrey S. Young.
Lightning never strikes twice, but Steve Jobs has, transforming modern culture first with the Macintosh and more recently with the iPod. He has dazzled and delighted audiences with his Pixar movies. And he has bedeviled, destroyed, and demoralized hundreds of people along the More... way. Steve Jobs is the most interesting character of the digital age.What a long, strange journey it has been. With the mainstream success of the iPod, Pixar's string of hits and subsequent divorce from Disney, and Steve's triumphant return to Apple, his story is better than any fiction. Ten years after the leading maverick of the computer age and the king of digital cool crashed from the height of Apple's meteoric rise, Steve Jobs rose from the ashes in a Machiavellian coup that only he could have orchestrated--and has now become more famous than ever.In this encore to his classic 1987 unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs--a major bestseller--Jeffrey Young examines Jobs' remarkable resurgence, one of the most amazing business comeback stories in recent years. Drawing on a wide range of sources in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, he details how Jobs put Apple back on track, first with the iMac and then with the iPod, and traces Jobs' role in the remarkable rise of the Pixar animation studio, including his rancorous feud with Disney's Michael Eisner.
Orji Kalu: Leadership Lessons From a Master Strategist : Everything Revealed!; Plus the Harvard Secrets
He was a director of many organizations including: Hallmark Bank and Unipetrol. He belongs to many professional and trade bodies and they include, Nigerian Institute of Directors, Nigerian Association of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Manufacturers' Association of Nigeria, Nigeria-Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nigeria Importers and Exporters Association, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria-Israel Association, and Spartansburg Chamber of Commerce S.C. USA. He was a member of the National Sports Commission under the chairmanship of Chief S.B. Williams between 1989 and 1990, and Federal Government Commission on the Re-grading of Traditional Rulers.
His intimidating political profile, stupendous wealth, international connections, acceptability among his fellow politicians, transparent leadership, crusade against social injustice, corruption and inequity and above all, divine anointing are some of the qualities that stand him out.
Governor Kalu has over 200 traditional titles to his honour and several books to his credit.
Some of the titles are:
OLUIGBO
TUKURAN GWANDU
ZANNA MU'AMALAM OF DIKWA
BANNA ZAKI OF LAPAI
KACHALLA MISAU
KACHALLA BIU
BARDEN MATASAN KEBBI
MMILI NYILI ENYI OF NRI KINGDOM
ARO OF OGBOMOSOLAND
KOLO OF BORNO
AARE BAALORO OF ISOLO
AGUNECHE ABIA
AHAEJIAGAMBE OF IGBERE
AKU ZURU IGBO OF EZIAMA, IMO STATE
ODEZULUIGBO OF NNOKWA, ANAMBRA STATE
ISIBUIGBO OF ATTA IMO STATE
OMENANWATA OF IGBOLAND
ASHIPA SERIKIN MAYEGUN OF IBADAN
BABA METU OF IKARE, EKITI
GARKUWAN KANO
He is yet to formally receive a special title conferred on him by the Alaafin of Oyo, and the Emir of Damaturu respectively.
He has some published and unpublished books to his credit and they include:
My Reflections on Nigeria's National Assembly (Unpublished)
The Problems of Nigeria Unity (Unpublished)
Military in Nigeria Economy (Unpublished)
Police and Crime Operation
Nigeria Foreign Policy and June 12 Crisis
Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo: The Height of Truth in Nigeria
Orji Uzor Kalu: Lessons from a Master Strategist
He has presented several speeches and lectures locally and internationally. Among them are:
Wake-up call for the Igbo at Igbo Summit in Enugu, January 2001 June 12 Presidential Election and Transition Crisis in Nigeria delivered in Lagos on June 12, 2002 to mark the 11th Anniversary of the annulled June 12 Presidential Election;
Democracy, Accountability and Good Governance at Papa Club, Lagos, September 14, 2002;
The Media In a Democratic Nigeria at the Communications Department of Howard University, Washington D.C. USA, October 25, 2002;
Issues In Nigeria's Contemporary Politics at Liberty University, Virginia, USA, February 2002;
Electoral Violence and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, February 19, 2003, and Roadmap to Igbo Renaissance at the World Igbo Congress, Tennessee, USA, September 29, 2003.
He is married with a wife. Dr. (Mrs.) Ifeoma Orji Uzor Kalu, and they have two beautiful daughters
His intimidating political profile, stupendous wealth, international connections, acceptability among his fellow politicians, transparent leadership, crusade against social injustice, corruption and inequity and above all, divine anointing are some of the qualities that stand him out.
Governor Kalu has over 200 traditional titles to his honour and several books to his credit.
Some of the titles are:
OLUIGBO
TUKURAN GWANDU
ZANNA MU'AMALAM OF DIKWA
BANNA ZAKI OF LAPAI
KACHALLA MISAU
KACHALLA BIU
BARDEN MATASAN KEBBI
MMILI NYILI ENYI OF NRI KINGDOM
ARO OF OGBOMOSOLAND
KOLO OF BORNO
AARE BAALORO OF ISOLO
AGUNECHE ABIA
AHAEJIAGAMBE OF IGBERE
AKU ZURU IGBO OF EZIAMA, IMO STATE
ODEZULUIGBO OF NNOKWA, ANAMBRA STATE
ISIBUIGBO OF ATTA IMO STATE
OMENANWATA OF IGBOLAND
ASHIPA SERIKIN MAYEGUN OF IBADAN
BABA METU OF IKARE, EKITI
GARKUWAN KANO
He is yet to formally receive a special title conferred on him by the Alaafin of Oyo, and the Emir of Damaturu respectively.
He has some published and unpublished books to his credit and they include:
My Reflections on Nigeria's National Assembly (Unpublished)
The Problems of Nigeria Unity (Unpublished)
Military in Nigeria Economy (Unpublished)
Police and Crime Operation
Nigeria Foreign Policy and June 12 Crisis
Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo: The Height of Truth in Nigeria
Orji Uzor Kalu: Lessons from a Master Strategist
He has presented several speeches and lectures locally and internationally. Among them are:
Wake-up call for the Igbo at Igbo Summit in Enugu, January 2001 June 12 Presidential Election and Transition Crisis in Nigeria delivered in Lagos on June 12, 2002 to mark the 11th Anniversary of the annulled June 12 Presidential Election;
Democracy, Accountability and Good Governance at Papa Club, Lagos, September 14, 2002;
The Media In a Democratic Nigeria at the Communications Department of Howard University, Washington D.C. USA, October 25, 2002;
Issues In Nigeria's Contemporary Politics at Liberty University, Virginia, USA, February 2002;
Electoral Violence and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, February 19, 2003, and Roadmap to Igbo Renaissance at the World Igbo Congress, Tennessee, USA, September 29, 2003.
He is married with a wife. Dr. (Mrs.) Ifeoma Orji Uzor Kalu, and they have two beautiful daughters
Professor Dora Akunyili at 59
The National Biographer Magazine July edition of 2013. Probably the last exclusive interview by Professor Dora Akunyili held last year June. It was conducted despite all her attempt to stop it in the name that she don't celebrate birthdays. It was the occasion of her 59th birthday. She never had an opportunity to see this interview after we published it. She would have been 60 years on July 14, 2014, if not for death. It is a 17 page pull out on a woman of substance
World's Greatest Biographies: By Reader's Digest
Biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Thomas Edison
Chinua Achebe: Tributes and Reflections By Nana Ayebia Clarke
Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) is widely recognized as the founding father of modern African literature in English. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, not only contested European narratives about Africa, but also challenged assumptions about the form and function of the novel.
Throughout his long career, Achebe was a voice for the peoples of Africa and also a formative influence on a new generation of African writers. This volume of tributes and reflections is a fitting testament to his legacy.
Throughout his long career, Achebe was a voice for the peoples of Africa and also a formative influence on a new generation of African writers. This volume of tributes and reflections is a fitting testament to his legacy.
My Life By Bill Clinton
An exhaustive, soul-searching memoir, Bill Clinton's My Life is a refreshingly candid look at the former president as a son, brother, teacher, father, husband, and public figure. Clinton painstakingly outlines the history behind his greatest successes and failures, including his dedication to educational and economic reform, his war against a "vast right-wing operation" determined to destroy him, and the "morally indefensible" acts for which he was nearly impeached. My Life is autobiography as therapy--a personal history written by a man trying to face and banish his private demons.
Clinton approaches the story of his youth with gusto, sharing tales of giant watermelons, nine-pound tumors, a charging ram, famous mobsters and jazz musicians, and a BB gun standoff. He offers an equally energetic portrait of American history, pop culture, and the evolving political landscape, covering the historical events that shaped his early years (namely the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK) and the events that shaped his presidency (Waco, Bosnia, Somalia). What makes My Life remarkable as a political memoir is how thoroughly it is infused with Clinton's unassuming, charmingly pithy voice:
Early Soyinka By Bernth Lindfors
Early Soyinka endeavors to reveal Wole Soyinka’s precocious talent as a writer of stories, dramas, essays, letters, humorous sketches and jokes, by presenting a collection of essays on writings by Soyinka composed prior to publication of his first books in 1963. The underlying argument in the book appears to be that Soyinka’s early works cannot be considered as “juvenilia or immature scribblings” for they already display a high command of language and acceptable formal structures.
The introduction lays out the background of the book when Bernth Lindfors attempts to settle a score with Biodun Jeyifo and Soyinka. Lindfors first retells Jeyifo’s position in Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (2004), in which the latter identified Lindfors as one “who, almost alone among students of Soyinka’s writings, has been obsessed with his literary juvenilia, hoping therein to find materials to prove Soyinka was once a rookie writer, a neophyte artist, even if his rise to fame seemed instantaneous and meteoric.” Then, Lindfors reveals Soyinka’s misunderstanding of his efforts to demonstrate that Soyinka’s earliest writings were not the “awkward fumblings of a neophyte artist but the handiwork of a skilled craftsman who could articulate original ideas with fluency, precision and persuasiveness.” Soyinka had apparently taken issue with Lindfors in his essay “The Critic and Society: Barthes, Leftocracy and Other Mythologies,” by branding the latter as a “hagiographer extraordinary, who re-creates my juvenilia, in the old University College of Ibadan; every page of his essay contains at least one inaccuracy of time and place and a series of absurd attributions.” Lindfors’ probable purpose in bringing out these two misinterpretations of his interest in that early expressive body of work is to show the reason why many critics have refrained from studying Soyinka’s writings prior to publication of A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel, and Three Plays in 1963. By considering these first published works as the starting point for an exploration of Soyinka’s talent and personality, those critics have been “studying the growth of a tree without examining its roots.” Early Soyinka aims then at putting things right by studying the growth of Soyinka from a close examination of his roots.
The introduction lays out the background of the book when Bernth Lindfors attempts to settle a score with Biodun Jeyifo and Soyinka. Lindfors first retells Jeyifo’s position in Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (2004), in which the latter identified Lindfors as one “who, almost alone among students of Soyinka’s writings, has been obsessed with his literary juvenilia, hoping therein to find materials to prove Soyinka was once a rookie writer, a neophyte artist, even if his rise to fame seemed instantaneous and meteoric.” Then, Lindfors reveals Soyinka’s misunderstanding of his efforts to demonstrate that Soyinka’s earliest writings were not the “awkward fumblings of a neophyte artist but the handiwork of a skilled craftsman who could articulate original ideas with fluency, precision and persuasiveness.” Soyinka had apparently taken issue with Lindfors in his essay “The Critic and Society: Barthes, Leftocracy and Other Mythologies,” by branding the latter as a “hagiographer extraordinary, who re-creates my juvenilia, in the old University College of Ibadan; every page of his essay contains at least one inaccuracy of time and place and a series of absurd attributions.” Lindfors’ probable purpose in bringing out these two misinterpretations of his interest in that early expressive body of work is to show the reason why many critics have refrained from studying Soyinka’s writings prior to publication of A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel, and Three Plays in 1963. By considering these first published works as the starting point for an exploration of Soyinka’s talent and personality, those critics have been “studying the growth of a tree without examining its roots.” Early Soyinka aims then at putting things right by studying the growth of Soyinka from a close examination of his roots.
My Watch – A Memoir by Olusegun Obasanjo (3 Vols)
"During his watch, a watchman has no sleep and no respite."
- Olusegun Obasanjo
Following in the steps of his previous memoirs, My Command and Not My Will, Olusegun Obasanjo's My Watch is more than the story of the Obasanjo presidency told by the man himself. It is a memoir of a lifetime spent in service to country, of a man who has been destined with the watch, with the vigilance, with the responsibility to his people to speak up and speak out.
My Watch spans large expanses of time, from the pre-colonial Owu history, to early Abeokuta and the last throes of an independent city state at turn-of-the-century colonial Nigeria, to the early life of its author, his civil war experience, his stewardship of the transitional government of 1976-1979, the interregnum, his second appearance on the national scene as a civilian president on Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999, the completion of the first civilian-civilian transfer of government in Nigeria's history that inaugurated the Yar'Adua presidency and signalled the end of Obasanjo's tenure in office, and the years hence.
Presented in three volumes, this exquisitely narrated memoir, in turns intensely personal and broadly nationalistic and international, completes a trilogy of autobiographies—My Command, Not My Will, and My Watch—told by this sojourner of Nigerian and world history.
Year of first release: 2014
Planned release date: November 2014
The book is presented as a three-volume boxset in hardcase and paperback editions. The book is trimmed at 150x235mm, portrait. The page counts are 506, 672, and 400 pages respectively for Volumes 1, 2, and 3. We present a well-designed, illustrated in full colour where relevant, and factual memoir written by the man himself.
After the war, Obasanjo resumed his duties as the commander of the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers. He was appointed Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Works in the Gowon Administration, and was appointed Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters—thus becoming the number 2 man in the government hierarchy—after the change of government in 1975.
Obasanjo served as Head of State of the Federal Military Government and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces from 1976-1979 following the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed in a failed putsch. He handed over to a civilian regime in 1979 and retired to private life of farming. As a statesman he was called upon by the international community, in one instance to serve as co-chair of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons' Group constituted to work on negotiated settlement for the ending of the South African Apartheid policy in 1985. He was also a candidate for the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1991.
Olusegun Obasanjo, a fearless critic of bad government in Africa and particularly in Nigeria, was jailed after the "phantom coup" trial in 1995 by the Abacha Military Regime. He emerged from prison in 1998 and became a candidate for the presidency in the run-up to the military handover to a democratic civilian administration. He won the election and was sworn-in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigerian on May 29 1999.
He stepped down from the presidency in 2007 at the end of his second term and returned to his farm. He still serves the international community in several capacities. He is currently the chief promoter of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
Olusegun Obasanjo has authored several books, significant amongst them, My Command, about his experiences in the Nigerian Civil War; Not My Will, about his service to the nation as Military Head of State; This Animal Called Man, a philosophical reflection on the nature of man written during his time as a political prisoner; and Nzeogwu, about his friend and key figure in the January 1966 coup. This book, My Watch, his latest memoir, promises to join the other books as odes to a life of service to God, humanity and country.
Table of Contents
VOLUME 1: My Watch - Early Life and the Military
Introduction
Part I: Early Life
1) Ifo Market Day
Part II: Military Career and Administration
Part III: Life After Military Administration
VOLUME 2: My Watch - Political and Public Affairs
Part IV: Second Coming – Politics & Political Affairs
Part V: Second Coming - Governance
VOLUME 3: My Watch -Now and Then
Part VI: Now and Thereafter
- Olusegun Obasanjo
Following in the steps of his previous memoirs, My Command and Not My Will, Olusegun Obasanjo's My Watch is more than the story of the Obasanjo presidency told by the man himself. It is a memoir of a lifetime spent in service to country, of a man who has been destined with the watch, with the vigilance, with the responsibility to his people to speak up and speak out.
My Watch spans large expanses of time, from the pre-colonial Owu history, to early Abeokuta and the last throes of an independent city state at turn-of-the-century colonial Nigeria, to the early life of its author, his civil war experience, his stewardship of the transitional government of 1976-1979, the interregnum, his second appearance on the national scene as a civilian president on Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999, the completion of the first civilian-civilian transfer of government in Nigeria's history that inaugurated the Yar'Adua presidency and signalled the end of Obasanjo's tenure in office, and the years hence.
Presented in three volumes, this exquisitely narrated memoir, in turns intensely personal and broadly nationalistic and international, completes a trilogy of autobiographies—My Command, Not My Will, and My Watch—told by this sojourner of Nigerian and world history.
Book Info
Publisher: Kachifo Limited under its Prestige ImprintYear of first release: 2014
Planned release date: November 2014
The book is presented as a three-volume boxset in hardcase and paperback editions. The book is trimmed at 150x235mm, portrait. The page counts are 506, 672, and 400 pages respectively for Volumes 1, 2, and 3. We present a well-designed, illustrated in full colour where relevant, and factual memoir written by the man himself.
Author's Bio
Olusegun Obasanjo, soldier, statesman, author and farmer, born on Ifo Market Day in Ibogun-Olaogun in what was then Abeokuta Province of 1930s colonial Nigeria, joined the Nigerian Army in 1958. He served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Congo between 1960-1961 and rose to become the General Officer Commanding the 3 Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian Army, which ended the 30-month Nigerian Civil War.After the war, Obasanjo resumed his duties as the commander of the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers. He was appointed Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Works in the Gowon Administration, and was appointed Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters—thus becoming the number 2 man in the government hierarchy—after the change of government in 1975.
Obasanjo served as Head of State of the Federal Military Government and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces from 1976-1979 following the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed in a failed putsch. He handed over to a civilian regime in 1979 and retired to private life of farming. As a statesman he was called upon by the international community, in one instance to serve as co-chair of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons' Group constituted to work on negotiated settlement for the ending of the South African Apartheid policy in 1985. He was also a candidate for the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1991.
Olusegun Obasanjo, a fearless critic of bad government in Africa and particularly in Nigeria, was jailed after the "phantom coup" trial in 1995 by the Abacha Military Regime. He emerged from prison in 1998 and became a candidate for the presidency in the run-up to the military handover to a democratic civilian administration. He won the election and was sworn-in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigerian on May 29 1999.
He stepped down from the presidency in 2007 at the end of his second term and returned to his farm. He still serves the international community in several capacities. He is currently the chief promoter of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
Olusegun Obasanjo has authored several books, significant amongst them, My Command, about his experiences in the Nigerian Civil War; Not My Will, about his service to the nation as Military Head of State; This Animal Called Man, a philosophical reflection on the nature of man written during his time as a political prisoner; and Nzeogwu, about his friend and key figure in the January 1966 coup. This book, My Watch, his latest memoir, promises to join the other books as odes to a life of service to God, humanity and country.
Table of Contents
VOLUME 1: My Watch - Early Life and the Military
Introduction
Part I: Early Life
1) Ifo Market Day
- The Owus in Yorubaland
- The Family
- Village Life
- From Village to City
- The City of Abeokuta
- Ibadan- The Oluyole City
Part II: Military Career and Administration
- Teshie - The Beginning of a Career
- From Dream to Reality: Going to the UK
- Close to Active Military Operation
- Returning Home
- Kaduna-The Cosmopolitan City of Crocodiles
- The Congo
- From Infantry to Corps of Engineers
- Assuming Command of Engineers Unit
- The Indian Staff College Course
- The First Coup And Its Aftermath
- Ibadan On Military Assignment
- The Nigerian Civil War
- The Royal College of Defence Studies
- First Step Into Government
- The Third Coup
Part III: Life After Military Administration
- The Inter-regnum
- Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa
- The Race to the 38th Floor
- National Unity Organisation of Nigeria (NUON)
- My Arrest: The Abacha Saga
- The Prison Experience
VOLUME 2: My Watch - Political and Public Affairs
Part IV: Second Coming – Politics & Political Affairs
- Entry Into Politics
- Political Consultations and Convention
- Campaigns and the Elections
- Planning & Preparation for Governance
- Beginning of Governance
- Constitution Amendments
- The External Dimensions
- Atiku and US Justice Entanglement
- Succession, Transition and Exit
Part V: Second Coming - Governance
- Credo and Orientation
- Credo
- Worship
- Death of Stella
- Judicial Commission
- Investigation of Human Rights Violations – Oputa Panel
- Conflict Resolutions
- Bakassi
- Militancy in the Niger Delta
- Internal Conflicts
- Regional Conflicts and Relations
- Fuel, Energy & Power Reforms
- Fuel Shortage
- Oil & Gas, Local Content, Marginal Fields
- Power & Energy
- Economic Reforms
- Transportation
- Privatisation
- Agriculture & Presidential Initiatives
- Tourism
- Debt Relief
- Needs & Vision 2020
- Financial Management Reforms
- Fighting Corruption
- Wage Increase
- Monetisation
- Contributory Pension Scheme
- Recovery of Looted Funds
- Price Intelligence Unit
- Banking Reform
- Social Welfare Services Reforms
- National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS
- Polio Immunisation
- National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC
- Millennium Development Goals, MDGs
- Universal Basic Education, UBE
- Housing and Urban Development
- Census 2006
- Civil Service Reforms
- Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA
- Local Government Councils
- e-Government
- SERVICOM
- Administrative Enhancement
- Independent Policy Group, IPG
- Informal Inner Circle in Governance (Kitchen Cabinet)
- Honorary Presidential Advisory Councils & Other Committees
- Executive-Legislative Relations
- Visits to States
- Improving the National Image
- Stated Goals and Proven Performance
VOLUME 3: My Watch -Now and Then
Part VI: Now and Thereafter
- Stand Up and Look
- Critical Assessment of Yar’Adua Administration
- Special Envoy of UN Secretary-General in DRC and Great Lakes Region
- To Be Or Not To Be: Jonathan
- The Presidential Library
- The Nigeria Centenary
- The Media and The Critics
- Global Events, Involvement in Note-Worthy Organisations and Leaders
- Elections Observations
- The Missed, the Missing and the Lost Chances
- From Now To...
- Epilogue
An Autobiography: the Story of My Experiments with Truth By Mohandas K Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Western India in 1869. He was educated in London and later traveled to South Africa, where he experienced racism and took up the rights of Indians, instituting his first campaign of passive resistance. In 1915 he returned to British-controlled India, bringing to a country in the throes of independence his commitment to non-violent change, and his belief always in the power of truth. Under Gandhi's lead, millions of protesters would engage in mass campaigns of civil disobedience, seeking change through ahimsa or non-violence. For Gandhi, the long path towards Indian independence would lead to imprisonment and hardship, yet he never once forgot the principles of truth and non-violence so dear to him. Written in the 1920s, Gandhi's autobiography tells of his struggles and his inspirations; a powerful and enduring statement of an extraordinary life.
About the Author
Mohandas Gandhi was born in Western India in 1869. After studying law in London and living in South Africa for many years, he returned to India in 1915, where he spent the rest of his life campaigning for India's independence and promoting his fundamental principles of truth and non-violence. He died in 1948.
About the Author
Mohandas Gandhi was born in Western India in 1869. After studying law in London and living in South Africa for many years, he returned to India in 1915, where he spent the rest of his life campaigning for India's independence and promoting his fundamental principles of truth and non-violence. He died in 1948.
Steve Jobs : The Exclusive Biography By Walter Isaacson
'This is a riveting book, with as much to say about the transformation of modern life in the information age as about its supernaturally gifted and driven subject' - Telegraph
Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - this is the acclaimed, internationally bestselling biography of the ultimate icon of inventiveness.
Walter Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies,music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written, nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - this is the acclaimed, internationally bestselling biography of the ultimate icon of inventiveness.
Walter Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies,music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written, nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983 - 1992 Hardcover by Tina Brown
The Vanity Fair Diaries is the story of an Englishwoman barely out of her twenties who arrives in New York City with a dream. Summoned from London in hopes that she can save Condé Nast's troubled new flagship Vanity Fair, Tina Brown is immediately plunged into the maelstrom of the competitive New York media world and the backstabbing rivalries at the court of the planet's slickest, most glamour-focused magazine company. She survives the politics, the intrigue, and the attempts to derail her by a simple stratagem: succeeding. In the face of rampant skepticism, she triumphantly reinvents a failing magazine.
Here are the inside stories of Vanity Fair scoops and covers that sold millions―the Reagan kiss, the meltdown of Princess Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, the sensational Annie Leibovitz cover of a gloriously pregnant, naked Demi Moore. In the diary's cinematic pages, the drama, the comedy, and the struggle of running an "it" magazine come to life. Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries is also a woman's journey, of making a home in a new country and of the deep bonds with her husband, their prematurely born son, and their daughter.
Astute, open-hearted, often riotously funny, Tina Brown's The Vanity Fair Diaries is a compulsively fascinating and intimate chronicle of a woman's life in a glittering era.
Ayo Ogunsheye THE WORKERS' ECONOMICS 1923-1990 by Ademola Ajayi
Ayo Ogunsheye (1923-1990): The Workers' Economist is an authoritative study of the life and times of Professor Fidelis Ayodele Ogunsheye, a trade unionist, teacher, academic, consultant for industry and a pace-setting president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ayo Ogunsheye was a patriot to the core, a dedicated nationalist who left an indelible imprint in the annals of history. This book sheds light on the environment and influences that shaped the thinking and actions of this foremost Nigerian economist and academic trail-blazer in commerce and industry.
THE EDITORS
S. Ademola Ajayi, reader/ associate professor of history, teaches at the University of Ibadan, his alma mater. He is the author of Emmanuel Akingbala: The Adventures of a Nigerian Baptist Pastor (1999); Yahyah Jammeh & The Gambian Revolution, 1994-2001 (2002); Idi-Aba Baptist Girls' School, Abeokuta, 1909-2009: A Centenary History (2009); Baptists of Nigeria: Their Genesis, Identity, Doctrinal Beliefs and Practices (2009); and Baptist Work in Nigeria, 1850-2005: A Comprehensive History (2010). Dr Ajayi is also the editor of African Culture and Civilization (2005). He was vice president, Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) (2005-2010), and is currently the national vice-president of the American Studies Association of Nigeria.
Babatunde Sofela (Ph.D.) teaches Latin American history in the Department of History, University of Ibadan. He has published a number of monographs, chapters in books and articles in learned journals. He is a member of the Society for Latin American Studies; fellow and treasurer of the Historical Society of Nigeria, and current head of the Department of History at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
America, Their America By JP Clark
This is an account of one programme to make friends for America during the Cold War, which failed with a Parvin Fellow at Princeton, the young JP Clark. The Nigerian poet later went on to enjoy warm hospitality in the United States, returning as a guest of the State Department, Distinguished Fellow at the famous Centre for the Humanities at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and Visiting Professor at Lincoln and Yale. With grants from the Ford Foundation, he also took a tour of theatres from coast to coast, and to help run his own repertory company at home in Lagos.
Year of Publication: 2016
254 pages
Year of Publication: 2016
254 pages
Fate of Our Mothers: The Collected Memories of an African Village Boy By Michael Oladejo Afoláyan
Fate of Our Mothers is the first in the series of the author's narrative of the assorted experiences that exemplify the first twenty years of his life. From rustic village life as a five year old boy, to the young adult person slated for the job of an untrained teacher in the city, the eclectic events in the author's life bring to life the untold stories of rural living, featuring the cultural conflicts endemic in a patriarchal system where while men may rule, the women are the active prime movers in the order of things. The story or compendium of stories take the reader through a life that epitomizes the paradoxical interface among joy, peace, as well as tragedies and pains; successes and gains, as well as failures and losses; protection and comfort, as well as dangerous exposure and vulnerability. The story does not follow the orthodoxy of systematic chronicling that often characterizes traditional memoirs. Rather, the author verbally addresses his own four children, who were born and raised in America, a sporadic reflection of his childhood upbringing in a far away village of Oke-Awo, Aba Iresi in southwestern Nigeria. He describes the rustic simplicity of Yoruba village life, the beauty of living under the roof and compound of a caring father, two relentlessly hardworking mothers, ten siblings, many relatives, and a countless number of extended family members and non-relatives. In all, Fate of Our Mothers whispers into our collective conscience that the survival of the Yoruba universe is anchored in the fate of its women.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America the first African American to serve in that role she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America the first African American to serve in that role she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
Omoluwabi and Esubiyi Of The Yoruba Memoir of Engineer Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni
Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni was born on January 25, 1934, in Owo, Nigeria. He attended Government College Ibadan and had his tertiary education at University College Ibadan (1954-1956), Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (1956-1960) and University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, obtaining BSc (Civil Engineering), MS (Civil Engineering) and MPW (Public Works) degrees.
After brief periods with some consulting firms in the UK, he undertook the mandatory practical training in the Civil Engineering Department of Crown Agents London from 1961 to 1963. Thereafter, he returned to Nigeria for his civil service career in the Federal Ministry of Works where he worked on many construction and maintenance projects. He was also at the Planning Department of the Highways Division of the Federal Ministry of Works and took part in the planning, design, and specifications for many road projects in the country.
In 1978 he was transferred to the Federal Capital Development Authority as the first Director of Development and Engineering Services, where he contributed to the definition of the urban transportation system and the regional road network in the Master Plan of the new Federal Capital City, Abuja and the associated activities leading to the eventual construction and first phase of movement to the city.
While his main professional interests are transportation planning, the development of the indigenous construction industry, project management and computer applications, he has made huge contributions to the country's political development through his writings and commentaries. His writings have been delivered at conferences, lectures, and tribunals while some have been published in journals and newspapers. He enjoys sports, current affairs, motoring, flying and traveling.
Engr Oseni voluntarily retired from the Federal Public Service in 1981 to set up an engineering consulting firm, F.A. Oseni Consultancy Services and Oznick Computers Ltd in 1983.
He is a Member, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Member, Institution of Civil Engineers (London) and Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers. In June 2011, he "Achieved the distinction of having been a member of the British Institution of Civil Engineers for fifty years."
He was conferred with the traditional title of Olisa Bobaniyi by Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, KBE, the Olowo of Owo in December 1994.
Engr Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni is married with three children: two daughters and a son.
After brief periods with some consulting firms in the UK, he undertook the mandatory practical training in the Civil Engineering Department of Crown Agents London from 1961 to 1963. Thereafter, he returned to Nigeria for his civil service career in the Federal Ministry of Works where he worked on many construction and maintenance projects. He was also at the Planning Department of the Highways Division of the Federal Ministry of Works and took part in the planning, design, and specifications for many road projects in the country.
In 1978 he was transferred to the Federal Capital Development Authority as the first Director of Development and Engineering Services, where he contributed to the definition of the urban transportation system and the regional road network in the Master Plan of the new Federal Capital City, Abuja and the associated activities leading to the eventual construction and first phase of movement to the city.
While his main professional interests are transportation planning, the development of the indigenous construction industry, project management and computer applications, he has made huge contributions to the country's political development through his writings and commentaries. His writings have been delivered at conferences, lectures, and tribunals while some have been published in journals and newspapers. He enjoys sports, current affairs, motoring, flying and traveling.
Engr Oseni voluntarily retired from the Federal Public Service in 1981 to set up an engineering consulting firm, F.A. Oseni Consultancy Services and Oznick Computers Ltd in 1983.
He is a Member, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Member, Institution of Civil Engineers (London) and Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers. In June 2011, he "Achieved the distinction of having been a member of the British Institution of Civil Engineers for fifty years."
He was conferred with the traditional title of Olisa Bobaniyi by Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, KBE, the Olowo of Owo in December 1994.
Engr Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni is married with three children: two daughters and a son.
Counting the Tiger's Teeth: An African Teenager's Story By Toyin Falola
Counting the Tiger’s Teeth narrates a crucial turning point in Nigerian history, the Agbekoya rebellion (“Peasants Reject Poverty”) of 1968–70, as chronicled by Toyin Falola, reflecting on his firsthand experiences as a teenage witness to history. Falola, the foremost scholar of Africa of this generation, illuminates the complex factors that led to this armed conflict and details the unfolding of major events and maneuvers. The narrative provides unprecedented, even poetic, access to the social fabric and dynamic cosmology of the farming communities in rebellion as they confronted the modernizing state. The postcolonial government exercised new modes of power that corrupted or neglected traditional forms of authority, ignoring urgent pleas for justice and fairness by the citizenry. What emerges, as the rural communities organized for and executed the war, is a profound story of traditional culture’s ingenuity and strength in this epic struggle over the future direction of a nation. Falola reveals the rebellion’s ambivalent legacy, the uncertainties of which inform even the present historical moment. Like Falola’s prizewinning previous memoir, A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt, this engagingly written book performs the essential service of providing a way of walking with ancestors, remembering the dead, reminding the living, and converting orality into a permanent text.
A Paradise for Maggots By Wale Adebanwi
A Paradise For Maggots: A Book Reveals How Lamorde Predicted His Return To The EFCC
Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC
“There will still be another day. Someday, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.” These were the words of Ibrahim Lamorde who was appointed as Acting Chairman of the EFCC yesterday.
A book on the Nuhu Ribadu-era at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, A Paradise for Maggots: The Story of a Nigerian Anti-Graft Czar, authored by University of California, Davis professor, Wale Adebanwi, reveals how newly appointed Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, predicted his return to the anti-graft commission in 2009, about a year after President Umaru Yar’Adua removed him and appointed Mrs. Farida Waziri.
Lamorde, who was then been posted to Kaduna after suffering harassments in the aftermath of his removal from the EFCC, assured Adebanwi that he would return to the EFCC and continue the anti-graft war that he and Ribadu waged before their removal by Yar’Adua.
Adebanwi writes: ‘There will still be another day,’ replied Lamorde when I asked if their removal from the EFCC could be taken as the end of a dream. ‘Some day, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.’
Below are the relevant parts of the book and a brief description of the new EFCC Chairman.
“‘I would like you to know that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is really recognised as a first-class institution and I would like to underscore to you today that the US government will be continuing our commitment and our support to the EFCC.’ Robin Renne Sanders, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, gave that assurance when she visited the EFCC headquarters in March 2008, while Ibrahim Lamorde was still in charge as acting chairman.
Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC
“There will still be another day. Someday, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.” These were the words of Ibrahim Lamorde who was appointed as Acting Chairman of the EFCC yesterday.
A book on the Nuhu Ribadu-era at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, A Paradise for Maggots: The Story of a Nigerian Anti-Graft Czar, authored by University of California, Davis professor, Wale Adebanwi, reveals how newly appointed Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, predicted his return to the anti-graft commission in 2009, about a year after President Umaru Yar’Adua removed him and appointed Mrs. Farida Waziri.
Lamorde, who was then been posted to Kaduna after suffering harassments in the aftermath of his removal from the EFCC, assured Adebanwi that he would return to the EFCC and continue the anti-graft war that he and Ribadu waged before their removal by Yar’Adua.
Adebanwi writes: ‘There will still be another day,’ replied Lamorde when I asked if their removal from the EFCC could be taken as the end of a dream. ‘Some day, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.’
Below are the relevant parts of the book and a brief description of the new EFCC Chairman.
“‘I would like you to know that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is really recognised as a first-class institution and I would like to underscore to you today that the US government will be continuing our commitment and our support to the EFCC.’ Robin Renne Sanders, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, gave that assurance when she visited the EFCC headquarters in March 2008, while Ibrahim Lamorde was still in charge as acting chairman.
Out of Stock
₦5,000
I Remain, Sir, Your Obedient Servant By Omo N'Oba Erediauwa
Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, formerly Prince Akenzua, is the present Oba of Benin, a position he has occupied since 1979. Previously, he variously served as a cadet administrative officer under the colonial government and a member of the cabinet office of the first independence government. Omo N’Oba Erediauwa has been writing this autobiography since 1965. It conveys his student days, his years of experience in the civil service, his Biafran war experiences, his accession to the throne of Benin, rise to kingship and subsequent tours and experiences.
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₦3,000
Nzeogwu: An Intimate Portrait of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu By Olusegun Obasanjo
Nzeogwu, the biography of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, written by his best-known friend, General Olusegun Obasanjo, makes an interesting reading in this respect. There could be dozens of hypotheses on January 15, 1966 coup. Many commentators, like Kirk-Greene in Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria I, said, “The truth will never be satisfactorily established”, given the death of its chief actors. Many of those hypotheses were postulated not to explain, but to conceal the truth for sheer mischief in some intellectual-cum-political provinces. What cannot be disputed, however, was the role played by Nzeogwu, its principal architect. His published biography has given additional insights into the personal traits that led to the unfortunate event.
Out of Stock
₦1,000
Adolf Hitler By James Bunting
There can be little doubt that Adolf Hitler changed the lives of everyone who lived in Europe and altering the lives of future generations throughout the world. No one has ever attracted more attention from biographers and historian than Adolf Hitler. This short book is an outcome of the conversation taken place between the author, James Bunting and the tyrant Hitler. It shows how and for what reason this non-descript, ill-educated son of simple parentage became ruler of a country and one of the worst tyrants the world has ever known.
The figure of Adolf Hitler stands across the 20th century like a colossus. There can be little doubt that he changed the lives of everyone who lived in Europe during his formative and active years, and since his death the lives of future generations throughout the world have been, to a greater or lesser degree, altered because of his presence on earth. His ideologies did not die with him but remain an ever present signal to those who wish to emulate his deeds. The sole aim of the book is to show how and for what reasons it was possible for a nondescript, ill educated son of simple parentage.
Zik: A Selection From the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe By Nnamdi Azikiwe
Zik of Africa as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe is widely known was Governor-General of the independent federation of Nigeria. From his return to Africa from America in 1934, Zik worked ceaselessly as journalist and politician for the freedom of his native Nigeria and for the advancement of all African peoples. 'Zikism' and African nationalism have often appeared to be synonymous. In what do the leaders of the new Africa believe, and what do they intend? Dr Azikiwe speaks forcefully, often controversially, but never without significance. Students of African affairs throughout the world and his many devoted followers in the African continent will welcome this volume of speeches made by this statesman orator. The speeches and extracts have been arranges in chapters each dealing with on important topic.
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₦3,500
Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria By Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Overview
Corrupt, mismanaged, and seemingly hopeless: that’s how the international community viewed Nigeria in the early 2000s. Then Nigeria implemented a sweeping set of economic and political changes and began to reform the unreformable. This book tells the story of how a dedicated and politically committed team of reformers set out to fix a series of broken institutions, and in the process repositioned Nigeria’s economy in ways that helped create a more diversified springboard for steadier long-term growth.
The author, Harvard- and MIT-trained economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, currently Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance and formerly Managing Director of the World Bank, played a crucial part in her country’s economic reforms. In Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, and later as Minister of Finance, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club that led to the wiping out of $30 billion of Nigeria’s external debt, 60 percent of which was outright cancellation. Reforming the Unreformable offers an insider’s view of those debt negotiations; it also details the fight against corruption and the struggle to implement a series of macroeconomic and structural reforms.
This story of development economics in action, written from the front lines of economic reform in Africa, offers a unique perspective on the complex and uncertain global economic environment.
About the Authors
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance. From 2007 to 2011 she was Managing Director of the World Bank, overseeing activities in South Asia, Europe, Central Asia, and Africa.
Oskar Juhlin is Professor in the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University and founder of the Mobile Life VINN Excellence Center.
Table of Contents
- Contents
- Preface ix
- Acknowledgments xi
- 1 Setting the Stage for Reform 1
- 2 Advancing Macroeconomic Reforms 19
- 3 Promoting Privatization, Deregulation, and Liberalization 35
- 4 Launching Other Structural Reforms 51
- 5 Fighting Corruption 81
- 6 Obtaining Debt Relief 95
- 7 Reflections on the Reforms and Lessons for Reformers 119
- 8 Conclusions and a Look Forward 133
- Appendix: Figures and Tables 145
- Notes 181
- References 185
- About the Author 189
- Index 191
Endorsements
"This insider's account of the valiant attempt to reform Nigeria's economy will inspire anyone committed to changing the course of their country."—Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, 2001
"This extremely informative and thought-provoking book provides a masterful account of the interplay of technical economic management and political will constrained by vested interest in undertaking transformative reforms in developing countries. Every page speaks to the Liberian experience in microcosm. This will be required reading by the Cabinet and students in our institutions of higher learning. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala remains a courageous champion for sound economic management and performance."—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
"An important book which incisively reveals what the real barriers to development are, and the political constraints to removing them. Inspiring and compulsory reading for development scholars and practitioners."—James Robinson, David Florence Professor of Government, Harvard University
"Just as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala forces open budget processes, these pages force open our eyes to the complexities of political life in Nigeria. Throughout her incarnations as the corruption cop, finance minister, tough decision maker, and managing director she has been and remains a great friend and an inspiring mentor. This is an essential guidebook for reformers everywhere."—Bono
The Book of Joe: The Life, Wit, and (Sometimes Accidental) Wisdom of Joe Biden Hardcover by Jeff Wilser
The aviators. The Amtrak. The ice cream cones. The memes. Few politicians are as iconic, or as beloved, as Joe Biden. Now, in The Book of Joe, Biden fans will finally have the definitive look at America's favorite vice president—and what he can teach us.
Structured around key moments in Biden's life and career—and filled with Biden-isms like "That's a bunch of malarkey" and "I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid"—this blend of biography, advice, and humor will reveal the experiences that forged Joe Biden, and the lessons we can use in our own lives. Along the way, readers will also encounter fun sidebars on his love of muscle cars, his most endearing gaffes, his bromance with President Obama, and much more.
Yet beneath the memorable Biden-isms, the book will reveal an inspirational story of a man who keeps "getting back up." We need this right now. Much as Biden has come back from both professional missteps and personal heartbreaks, sometimes we all have to get back up and fight. Given Biden's reputation as a decent, plainspoken, patriotic statesman of integrity, this entertaining and practical book will be both a celebration of great political figure and an essential guide to creating the America he believes in so dearly
Structured around key moments in Biden's life and career—and filled with Biden-isms like "That's a bunch of malarkey" and "I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid"—this blend of biography, advice, and humor will reveal the experiences that forged Joe Biden, and the lessons we can use in our own lives. Along the way, readers will also encounter fun sidebars on his love of muscle cars, his most endearing gaffes, his bromance with President Obama, and much more.
Yet beneath the memorable Biden-isms, the book will reveal an inspirational story of a man who keeps "getting back up." We need this right now. Much as Biden has come back from both professional missteps and personal heartbreaks, sometimes we all have to get back up and fight. Given Biden's reputation as a decent, plainspoken, patriotic statesman of integrity, this entertaining and practical book will be both a celebration of great political figure and an essential guide to creating the America he believes in so dearly
My odyssey: An Autobiography By Nnamdi Azikiwe
Nnamdi Azikiwe, a well-known African elder statesman, for many years played a prominent role in the fight for the emancipation of Black Africa from colonial rule. A key figure among West African nationalists who envisaged a united Ibo people, he was the first and only President of independent Nigeria before the coup in 1966. His autobiography covers his formative years up to 1947, when, at the age of forty-five, he entered politics as the President of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, the majority party of the Eastern region.
His odyssey begins with his boyhood in Onitsha, where he dreamed of owning a printing press, and he describes in fascinating detail his genealogy, his family background, and the traditions in which he was raised as an Ibo. He describes his early religious indoctrination in the Christian schools of Lagos and Calabar, where he first became aware of the anomalies of the colonial African societies in which an alien ruling elite imposed racial discrimination on Africans. During his secondary education, he was introduced to the writings of Marcus Garvey, the sermons of Dr. Kweygir Aggrey, and a biography of President Garfield. The messages of these men-Garvey's call for the liberation of Africa from the colonial governments, Dr. Aggrey's hope for a social rebirth and a new spiritual outlook among and toward Africans, and President Garfield's frontier spirit and willpower in the face of poverty-inspired Zik to pursue his university education in the United States in the hope that it would prepare him for leadership of the Nigerian independence movement.
His odyssey begins with his boyhood in Onitsha, where he dreamed of owning a printing press, and he describes in fascinating detail his genealogy, his family background, and the traditions in which he was raised as an Ibo. He describes his early religious indoctrination in the Christian schools of Lagos and Calabar, where he first became aware of the anomalies of the colonial African societies in which an alien ruling elite imposed racial discrimination on Africans. During his secondary education, he was introduced to the writings of Marcus Garvey, the sermons of Dr. Kweygir Aggrey, and a biography of President Garfield. The messages of these men-Garvey's call for the liberation of Africa from the colonial governments, Dr. Aggrey's hope for a social rebirth and a new spiritual outlook among and toward Africans, and President Garfield's frontier spirit and willpower in the face of poverty-inspired Zik to pursue his university education in the United States in the hope that it would prepare him for leadership of the Nigerian independence movement.
Out of Stock
₦3,500
Alibaba The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
An engrossing, insider’s account of how a teacher built one of the world’s most valuable companies—rivaling Walmart & Amazon—and forever reshaped the global economy.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
JP CLARK - A VOYAGE By Femi Osofisan (Hardback)
The definitive biography of “the main animating force of African poetry”
JP Clark: A Voyage is the definitive biography of Clark by Femi Osofisan, himself one of Nigeria’s most accomplished playwrights. It chronicles the life and career of the man John Pepper Clark – Bekederemo, from his remarkable childhood to his emergence in the 60s among the best and brightest of Nigerian literature. For the first time, JP breaks his silence about the controversial position he took during Nigeria’s Civil War and discusses his relationship with Soyinka and Achebe.
Generally regarded as the most lyrical of the poets of his generation for his simple, down to earth, visual and descriptive imagery, which makes his poems among the most memorable, JP Clark is perhaps the most underrated of Nigeria’s literary giants: Achebe, Soyinka and Okigbo, being the others.
Young Mandela By David James Smith
Nelson Mandela has been mythologised as a flawless hero of the liberation struggle. But how exactly did his early life shape the triumphs to come?
This book goes behind the myth to find the man who people have forgotten or never knew - Young Mandela, the committed freedom fighter, who left his wife and children behind to go on the run from the police in the early 1960s.
But his historic achievements came at a heavy price and David James Smith graphically describes the emotional turmoil Mandela left in his wake.
After meticulous research, and taking a lead from Mandela's trusted circle, the author discovers much that is new, surprising, and sometimes shocking that will enhance our understanding of the world's elder statesman. For the first time, we have evidence of a specific personal motivation for Mandela's fight against apartheid, and this book sheds light on the significant extent to which Mandela relied on white activists - a part of South African history the ANC has ignored or tried to bury.
Sanctified, lionised, it turns out that Mandela is a human being after all, only too aware of his flaws and shortcomings.
With unique access to people and papers, culminating in a meeting with Mandela himself, Smith has written the single most important contribution to our knowledge of this global icon.
About the Author
David James Smith was born in 1956 and has been a journalist all his working life. He writes for the Sunday Times Magazine.
Mandela's Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage By Richard Stengel
We long for heroes and have too few. Nelson Mandela, who recently celebrated his ninety-first birthday, is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint. He liber-ated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite oppressor and oppressed in a way that had never been done before.
Now Richard Stengel, the editor of "Time "maga-zine, has distilled countless hours of intimate conver-sation with Mandela into fifteen essential life lessons. For nearly three years, including the critical period when Mandela moved South Africa toward the first democratic elections in its history, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography and traveled with him everywhere. Eating with him, watching him campaign, hearing him think out loud, Stengel came to know all the different sides of this complex man and became a cherished friend and colleague.
In "Mandela's Way, "Stengel recounts the moments in which "the grandfather of South Africa" was tested and shares the wisdom he learned: why courage is more than the absence of fear, why we should keep our rivals close, why the answer is not always either/or but often "both," how important it is for each of us to find something away from the world that gives us pleasure and satisfaction--our own garden. Woven into these life lessons are remarkable stories--of Mandela's child-hood as the protege of a tribal king, of his early days as a freedom fighter, of the twenty-seven-year imprison-ment that could not break him, and of his new and fulfilling marriage at the age of eighty.
This compact book is profoundly inspiring. It captures the spirit of this extraordinary man--warrior, martyr, husband, statesman, and moral leader--and spurs us to look within ourselves, reconsider the things we take for granted, and contemplate the legacy we'll leave behind.
Ibrahim Babangida: The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria By Dan Agbese
In a country where the art of writing life history has been bastardised to serve selfish political interests, the author of a new biography or autography is a suspect, especially with the 2015 presidential election around the corner. So, when this reviewer got a copy of Dan Agbese’s latest work on the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida; Ibrahim Babangida: The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria, his first impulse was to find out if it was actually a biography or just another hagiography.
He rushed to the chapters dealing with issues like the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely believed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, the controversial Structural Adjustment Programme, Dele Giwa’s murder, etc. He compared the author’s analyses on the topics with his fiery comments on the same issues in the Newswatch magazine in the ’80s and ’90s to see if there were contradictions that would suggest he is an emergency biographer trying to repackage Babangida.
But Agbese’s perspective in this book proves to be quite consistent with his previous viewpoint: IBB is a tragic hero. The 433-page book comprising eighteen chapters is a classical case study of a leader who started out with the noble aim of bettering his country but got swept off by the whirlwind of his personal ambition and parochial considerations just when his noble dream was about to be realized.
He rushed to the chapters dealing with issues like the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely believed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, the controversial Structural Adjustment Programme, Dele Giwa’s murder, etc. He compared the author’s analyses on the topics with his fiery comments on the same issues in the Newswatch magazine in the ’80s and ’90s to see if there were contradictions that would suggest he is an emergency biographer trying to repackage Babangida.
But Agbese’s perspective in this book proves to be quite consistent with his previous viewpoint: IBB is a tragic hero. The 433-page book comprising eighteen chapters is a classical case study of a leader who started out with the noble aim of bettering his country but got swept off by the whirlwind of his personal ambition and parochial considerations just when his noble dream was about to be realized.
Out of Stock
₦6,000
Vindication Of A General By Lt Gen (Dr) IR Bamaiyi (rtd)
Fighting for Justice
How do we know who we really are unless we’re tested? Would you fight for what you believe in even if it could lead to your demise?
As a boy, I had dreamed of being a soldier, but when I grew up and enlisted I found it was not what I had imagined. Where I had envisioned camaraderie, honor, and respect, I found secrets, lies, and backstabbing. I found corruption where there should have been cooperation, and, worst of all, malice where only valor should have thrived. I became caught up in a series of attempts to overthrow the government—and became a target myself because I knew too much.
Most of all I learned that it is only in humility that we find peace. When we begin to think we are better than another man, that is the point at which our downfall begins.
About the Author
Lt. Gen. (Dr.) IshayaRiziWadtareBamaiyi (rtd.) was born in Stench village, Nigeria. He graduated from Bida Teachers College and joined the Nigerian army in 1967 as aspecial-enlistmentrecruit. He went to the Nigerian Defense Academy as a corporal and commanded seven different infantry battalions, four brigades, and the Lagos Garrison before being appointedchiefof army staff in 1996. He served under the military administration of late Gen. Sani Abacha and was on December 10,1999charged with attempted murder of Guardian Newspaper Publisher, Alex Ibru. He was charged alongside former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Gen Abacha, Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, and others by the Lagos State Government. Bamaiyi was, however, discharged and acquitted on April 2,2008of any wrongdoing in the saga, after eight years in detention.
How do we know who we really are unless we’re tested? Would you fight for what you believe in even if it could lead to your demise?
As a boy, I had dreamed of being a soldier, but when I grew up and enlisted I found it was not what I had imagined. Where I had envisioned camaraderie, honor, and respect, I found secrets, lies, and backstabbing. I found corruption where there should have been cooperation, and, worst of all, malice where only valor should have thrived. I became caught up in a series of attempts to overthrow the government—and became a target myself because I knew too much.
Most of all I learned that it is only in humility that we find peace. When we begin to think we are better than another man, that is the point at which our downfall begins.
About the Author
Lt. Gen. (Dr.) IshayaRiziWadtareBamaiyi (rtd.) was born in Stench village, Nigeria. He graduated from Bida Teachers College and joined the Nigerian army in 1967 as aspecial-enlistmentrecruit. He went to the Nigerian Defense Academy as a corporal and commanded seven different infantry battalions, four brigades, and the Lagos Garrison before being appointedchiefof army staff in 1996. He served under the military administration of late Gen. Sani Abacha and was on December 10,1999charged with attempted murder of Guardian Newspaper Publisher, Alex Ibru. He was charged alongside former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Gen Abacha, Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, and others by the Lagos State Government. Bamaiyi was, however, discharged and acquitted on April 2,2008of any wrongdoing in the saga, after eight years in detention.
Out of Stock
₦6,000
Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man By Richard Stengel
Inspirational wisdom from the world's greatest moral leader.
Written by the co-author of international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man presents fifteen powerful lessons on life and leadership based on the life and work of Nelson Mandela, whose fight against apartheid in South Africa has become an enduring example of resistance against injustice and oppression. A recipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, Mandela is a man who truly changed the course of world history and is arguably the most inspirational figure of the past century.
Stengel spent almost three years with Mandela working on his bestselling autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, and through that process became a close friend. Written with the blessing of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, to which the author will donate a percentage of his royalties, Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man is an inspirational book of wisdom that will encourage people of all ages to look within themselves to improve their lives, to reconsider the things they take for granted, and to think about the legacy they leave behind.
About the Author
Richard Stengel is the managing editor of Time Magazine. He spent two years collaborating with Nelson Mandela on Mandela's bestselling and critically acclaimed autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. He has written for many publications, including The New Yorker and New York Times and is also the author of January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town and You're too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery. Mandela is godfather to his two sons and introduced him to his wife.