Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe teaches fiction and African literature at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He is the author of the novel, Arrows of Rain and co-editor (with Chenjerai Hove) of Writers, Writing on Conflicts and Wars in Africa. After studying business management at the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu (Nigeria), Ndibe earned an MFA and PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ndibe was the founding editor of African Commentary, a magazine published in the U.S. by novelist Chinua Achebe, author of the classic novel, Things Fall Apart. His lively, witty and intellectually stimulating style has made him a highly sought after speaker on African and African American literature and politics. Ndibe is finishing his second novel titled Foreign Gods, Incorporated and also working on a memoir of his life in the US. His website. Twitter: @ OkeyNdibe

A National Insult Rejected

How did we quickly forget that Abacha’s looting of public funds from the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria was a patriotic act? Or that he gave his cronies licenses to import toxic fuel into Nigeria because he so fiercely loved Nigerians and fervently desired their development?

Besieged by the Police

President Goodluck Jonathan is notorious for moving at slower than the speed of a snail when called upon to address issues that rather demand alacrity. Yet, Nigerians are besieged by a terrible plague that Mr. Jonathan can—and should—address immediately...

Again, A Case of Uncounted Billions

To a first-time visitor, much of Nigeria is likely to appear like the wreckage of a long war, what with its gutted roads, rutted infrastructure, the near-absence of electric power, and the paucity of pipe-borne water...

The Shape of Things To Come?

I have had several sad conversations in the past two weeks with friends who, like me, are from Anambra State. The conversations have focused on the local government election held in the state on January 11...

Billionaire House Helps

It’s become settled practice: every four years, INEC puts together an obscenely expensive show called “elections.” But the point of the bazaar is to enable the various political parties to exhibit their varying levels of versatility at rigging...

Nigeria’s New MINTED Hope

Again and again, experts, foreign and home-bred, have foretold that Nigeria was on the cusp of becoming a stupendous economic miracle. With each new prediction, many Nigerians, especially those who presume to be “leaders,” would go into a tizzy of celebration, as if the word potential was interchangeable with reality, as if promise were the equal of performance...

Nigerians Yawn Over Missing Billions

Why are we so blest? What combination of factors has rendered Nigerians this apathetic, this nonchalant, this indifferent to their degraded condition? In a space where most so-called citizens exist in animal-level states, a country with no healthcare to speak of, a vast toilet of a country where millions defecate in the open...

Iyabo Obasanjo’s Mirror

The Obasanjo who emerges in his daughter’s letter struck me as an altogether familiar figure. There are, for me, few surprises, save for the daughter’s unflinching marshaling of evidence unknown to most Nigerians in order to sustain her intrepid assessment of her father...

Don't miss

The Insult That Led to the Creation of Osun State

Osun State was created thirty-five years ago, but what...

Hello! Be Wise As The Campaigns Begin

Barring any divine intervention, and never ruling out the...

Nigeria Is Dying In Bondage

The calls came to me in quick succession -...

Call Me Tony: A Parable of Corporate Nigeria

By Temitope Lakisokun The argument over the young trainee who...

Nigerian Style Of Football

We played the game. It entailed any number of...