Brief Biography Of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on the 16th of November, 1904 in Zungeru (present Niger state) the place his father worked as a clerk in the British administration of Nigeria. His mother and father were both from Anambra state. His mother and father gave him the name Benjamin, however, he later changed it to Nnamdi. He attended various primary and secondary mission schools in Onitsha, Calabar, and Lagos. He was also fluent in three Nigerian languages —Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba— this will prove to be a foremost asset for the future Nigerian nationalist. Between 1921 and 1924 he was a clerk for the Nigerian treasury in Lagos. In 1925 Azikiwe went to the United States to study. He attended Storer College and then Howard and Lincoln universities. He obtained a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Lincoln in 1931 and advanced degrees from Lincoln in 1932 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1933.
Between 1932 and 1934 Azikiwe taught political science at Lincoln University. At this time he started out writing seriously, and his productions mirrored his pan-African inclination. He devised a “Syllabus for African History” and wrote a book, Liberia in World Politics (1934), in defense of the black republic. In 1937 he published Renascent African, the most vital single expression of his pan-African ideology.
In 1934 Azikiwe accepted an offer as an editor for the African Morning Post, a daily newspaper in Accra, Ghana, which he quickly made into an important organ of nationalist propaganda. While in Ghana, he met and married his wife Flora Ogbenyeanu Ogoegbunam. In 1937, Azikiwe and his wife returned to Nigeria and became directly involved in politics. He co-founded a political party called the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons with Herbert Macaulay.
He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). During these years was seen as an important figure in Nigeria’s fight for independence. While premier, he laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka which formally opened in September 1960.
On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent. Azikiwe was appointed governor-general with Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as deputy governor-general. On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.
Azikiwe died at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, in Enugu State, on May 11, 1996, at the age of 91, following a long illness. He left behind 2 wives and 7 children. Today, his portrait adorns the five hundred naira note. A federal university and international airport were also named after him. Marking his death, the New York Times commented that Azikiwe “towered over the affairs of Africa’s most populous nation, attaining the rare status of a truly national hero who came to be admired across the regional and ethnic lines dividing his country.”
