Tag: Prof. Sunny Awhefeada

Analysis: A Bumpy Ride And Half A Loaf

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By Sunny Awhefeada,   Part of what conditioned our growing up years, in my part of the world, was street wisdom obtained by association with our age mates and those older. A significant aspect of street lore was the apt use of language to describe phenomena and evade or ameliorate problems and sanctions. We picked up words and expressions which enriched our minds on a daily basis. Some of them were wholesome while others were anchored on mischief and meant only for our ears and not that of those older…

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Samson Edema And The Quest For A “New Dawn

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By Sunny Awhefeada The literature curriculum that my generation of undergraduates was taught at the University of Benin, it was the same in other Nigerian universities then, was a hybrid of English and African oeuvres. There were occasional attempts at studying European Literatures in Translation, but the bulk of what we studied was English and African Literatures. One of the courses that left a lasting impact in our impressionable minds was “Twentieth Century British Literature” which in some other curricular was dubbed “Modernist Literature” or “Modern Literature”. The course, never…

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The Many Gains Of Subsidy Removal

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By Sunny Awhefeada,   Nigeria has over the years evolved the character of a country where things are perpetually in reverse gear. Our country is now largely defined by punishingly unenviable indices which are easily manifested in our perennial underdevelopment. The last forty years have been characterized by disruptive hiccups and deadly spasms and only God is able to explain why Nigeria has not tipped over. Each time the nation totters to the cusp, a deus ex machina often intervenes to redirect her affairs. But how much longer can this…

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A DELSU Valentine Experience

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  By Sunny Awhefeada, For many years, until this year, St. Valentine’s Day represented for some of us a day set aside to observe a myth tied to Western tendency of indoctrination. It was never on the card for some of us. Our consciousness of it began from our secondary school days and it peaked during our university years. The day always came and went for us without any fuss. I recall the St. Valentine’s Day of 1996 fell into one of the two days we hosted the inimitable poet,…

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Analysis & Opinion: In Times Like This

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By Sunny Awhefeada,   Nigeria must rank the highest in terms of paradoxical manifestations in all the indices of development ever known to humanity. Nigeria is big, but small. Yes, Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu who announced the nation’s first military coup one chilly harmattan dawn in January 1966 accused the political leaders of making Nigeria look “big for nothing”. Nigeria is rich, but poor. Nigeria has vast arable land, but her people are among the hungriest in the world. Nigeria has a brilliant populace, perhaps among the best endowed in the…

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Analysis & Opinion: Na True Say We Don See 99?

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  By Sunny Awhefeada An encounter in a bus ride from Ughelli to Warri provided the title for today’s intervention. As usual, hardly had the rickety bus coughed, jerked and hit the road that lamentations about the present condition of our beloved Nigeria began. The occupants of the bus, packed sardine-like, wore disillusioned and angry looks. They appeared jaded, but aggressive and each word they uttered was indicative of their countenance which must have been bitterer than gall. Their words were vituperative. And if words could really act like missiles…

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Analysis & Opinion: Federal Republic of Oddities

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By Sunny Awhefeada It never rains, but pours for Nigeria! Many have argued that the postcolonial state remains in constant flux until it is able to sort itself out and that the sorting out is the product of time and critical self-review and eventual pointing at the way forward. Nigeria is the handwork of British colonizers who deriving impetus from the Berlin Conference of 1884/85 seized the vast territories that were later amalgamated and christened Nigeria by the girlfriend of Lord Lugard who enjoyed the dubious ascription of subjugating the…

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Johnson Adjan, The Ogburine, @ 80

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  By Sunny Awhefeada The usual end of year ritual of evaluation and resolutions preoccupied my mind as I tried to draw a connection between the dying year and the new one. My mind took to memory lane as it ambled between the year 2000 and the present moment. What assailed me were a huge void and then a stream of disillusionment in view of where we are as a nation. The killings in Plateau State and other parts of Nigeria, the deepening poverty and general ambience of hopelessness easily…

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When Christmas Bells Jingled in DELSU

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By Sunny Awhefeada The atmosphere was joyous and this could be seen in the smiles, laughter, hugs and banters that characterized the beginning of that evening. Colours, especially red, green and white, dominated the scene. The spectacle was carnivalesque (apologies to Aghogho Agbamu)! It was one of those rare moments when anxiety-laden students would feel at ease to exchange convivial banters with unsmiling hard aced dons. Thankfully, examination which is one cause of friction between students and dons was far away. So, that evening leveled all as everybody got enveloped…

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In Search Of The Incorruptible Judge

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By Sunny Awhefeada,   The title of this essay will resonate with my age mates and others before us as it invokes pleasant memories of the play, The Incorruptible Judge, by D. Olu Olagoke. The play excoriates corruption and privileges the judiciary as the agency to eradicate it. Readers of the play marveled at the refreshingly sound logic and verbal dexterity of the lawyer-characters. However, the character who stole the show was the trial judge, Justice Faderin, who resisted pressure and attempts to get bribed and compromise the case. His…

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