THE ENDURING LEGACY OF AN AFRICAN CONSCIENCE

NgũgĩwaThiong’o is more than a writer. He is Africa’s conscience, reckons SAMUEL AKPOBOME OROVWUJE

“Being is one thing; becoming aware of it is a point of arrival by an awakened consciousness and this involves a journey.” NgugiwaThiong’o, In the Name of the Mother: Reflections on Writers and Empire

In the pantheon of African literary giants, few names resonate with as much power, consistency, and ideological clarity as Ngugi’swaThiong’o. For over six decades, the Kenyan novelist, playwright, essayist, and activist has been a relentless advocate for the cultural and political liberation of Africa. His work—spanning fiction, non-fiction, drama, and theory—has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of colonialism, language, resistance, and identity.

Ngugi’s legacy is especially poignant for us in Nigeria, where the struggle for cultural decolonization continues to echo in our literature, politics, and educational institutions. Like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, Ngugi’s  elevated African thought on the global stage, but his path has been uniquely defined by his bold rejection of the colonial languages and paradigms that dominate African discourse.

One of Ngugi’s  most enduring contributions is his radical approach to language. In his seminal work Decolonising the Mind (1986), he argued that language is not merely a tool of expression—it is a vessel of memory, culture, and consciousness. To write in colonial languages, he warned, is to surrender the African soul to imperialism.

In a bold act of resistance, Ngugi’s abandoned English altogether and began writing in his native Gikuyu, starting with his prison novel, Devil on the Cross (1980). His message was clear: African stories must be told in African languages to truly reclaim their authenticity. In our own Nigerian context—where English dominates education, media, and literature—Ng’g’s position challenges us to re-evaluate how we honour our mother tongues.

Ngugi’s  early novels remain powerful explorations of the Kenyan and Africa colonial experience and continue to speak to broader African realities. In Weep Not, Child (1964), his first novel and the first major novel in English by an East African, we meet Njoroge, a young boy who believes education is the path to freedom. Set against the backdrop of the Mau Mau rebellion, the story is a haunting tale of shattered dreams as Njoroge’s world collapses under the weight of colonial violence and betrayal. The story mirrors countless African youths’ aspirations—and the systems that undermine them.

In The River Between (1965), Ngugi’s presents a spiritual and cultural struggle between two Gikuyu communities divided by colonial religion and tradition. Waiyaki, the novel’s tragic hero, seeks to reconcile the conflicting forces of education and indigenous heritage. His failure is a metaphor for the difficulties faced by those caught between modernity and ancestral values—a tension familiar to many Nigerian communities facing cultural erosion.

 Pointedly, Ngugi’s  life was revolutionary as his writing. His co-authored play I Will Marry When I Want (1977), performed in Gikuyu with local villagers, critiqued Kenya’s neocolonial elite and their exploitation of the poor. For this, he was arrested and detained without trial by the Kenyan government—a stark reminder that speaking truth to power in Africa often comes at a price.

Furthermore, His prison memoir, Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary, is a compelling chronicle of artistic defiance. For Ngugi’s , the pen is not just mightier than the sword—it is a sword. A sword of justice. He remains a living example of how literature and activism can and must coexist in the African context.

Indeed, Ngugi’s  was never content to see colonialism as a thing of the past. In works like Petals of Blood (1977), he exposes how African leaders, post-independence, often perpetuate colonial systems of exploitation, enriching themselves at the expense of their people. The novel’s grim portrayal of greed and betrayal resonates powerfully in postcolonial Nigeria, where dreams of nationhood are too often undermined by corruption and inequality. He saw colonialism as lingering shadows of underdevelopment and state capture in Africa particularly in his home country of Kenya.

Ngugi’s challenges us to confront neocolonialism in all its forms—economic, cultural, and political. His work reminds us that political independence means little without cultural self-knowledge and sovereignty.

Ngugi’s  later works, especially Wizard of the Crow (2006), offer an imaginative rethinking of African modernity. Set in the fictional Republic of Abur’ria, the novel is a sweeping satire of dictatorship and greed. Through magical realism and folklore, he crafts a vision of an Africa that is both humorous and tragic—an Africa where the absurdities of power mimic real-life authoritarian regimes.

What makes Wizard of the Crow remarkable is not just its critique of tyranny, but its faith in the possibility of change. Ngugi’s urges us to imagine new African futures—grounded in justice, rooted in culture, and open to the world without being overrun by it.

 Interestingly, Ngugi’swaThiong’o’s influence is not confined to Kenya. His works are studied in universities across Nigeria, Africa, and the global South. His call to decolonize African knowledge systems resonates in contemporary movements such as Rhodes Must Fall and Decolonise the Curriculum. Generations of African writers—from ChimamandaAdichie to TsitsiDangarembga—walk through the literary and ideological paths he helped clear.

As Africa grapples with questions of identity, governance, and global relevance, Ngugi’s  voice remains one of the most courageous and consistent. He has taught us that decolonization is not just a historical event—it is a cultural and intellectual project that must continue until Africa fully owns its voice.

Ngugi’swaThiong’o is more than a writer. He is Africa’s conscience. And as we honour his towering legacy, we are reminded that literature—when committed to truth—can shake empires, awaken nations, and heal the soul of a continent.  KwaherihayatiNgugiThiong’o!

Orovwuje is a Lagos-based international development consultant and public affairs analyst specializing in human rights, policy advocacy, and African cultural thought.

A

nambra State is arguably the erosion capital of Africa. As of today, the state reportedly has over 1,000 active erosion sites. The figure was around 950 as of April 2022 according to the state governor, Prof. ChukwumaSoludo.

Soludo made the revelation during a roundtable meeting with the task force team of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) held at Bon Hotel, Awka, the state capital.

The team was in Anambra for a three-day workshop that centred on the organisation’s Additional Financing (AF) Implementation Completion and Result Report Mission (ICRM) which took place at the International Convention Centre in the capital city.

At the event, which drew participants from 22 other states of the federation with NEWMAP interventions, the governor lamented the devastating impacts of gully erosion in the state.

Soludo was represented in the two events by his deputy, Dr. OnyekachukwuIbezim. Just a year later, the Commissioner for Environment, Felix Odimegwu, an engineer, revealed that erosion sites in the state had hit 1,000 based on his findings. He made the revelation while unveiling the state’s programme for the 2023 World Earth Day (WED) in Awka.

While lamenting that Anambra was losing arable land to gully erosion, the Environment Commissioner revealed that new erosion sites were still emerging in the state. From 2022 to 2025, available reports show that more erosion sites have emerged in various parts of the state.

Currently, a very deep gully is threatening the fence of Amanuke General Hospital, Amanuke in Awka North Local Government Area of the state, as well as the family home of Mr. Humphrey Onyekaomelu which shares boundary with it.

In fact, if urgent action is not taken, both the hospital’s fence and the residential building may cave in anytime soon. In Nnewi South, many communities in that LGA are currently battling with erosion issues. The same applies to parts of Nnewi town in Nnewi North LGA.

Erosion sites in Agulu community, Anaocha LGA; Nanka and Oko communities in Orumba North LGA are still very much active. In fact, the trio is regarded as the headquarters of gully in the state.

Erosion issues in the three communities are so bad that their residents reportedly spend each day in fear, not knowing when and where the next landslide would take place. So far, scores of lives have been lost, properties worth several millions of Naira destroyed even as farmlands and economic trees have been swept away.

The Federal Polytechnic, Oko is under a serious threat. Already, a part of the institution’s perimeter fence has been pulled down by a very deep gully and some buildings near it threatened.

In other parts of the state, there have been a series of reports about the devastating impacts of gully erosion. There is hardly any community in the state that does not have its own share of the erosion issues.

The Environment Commissioner, Odimegwu, lamented during the NEWMAP’s workshop that over 70 per cent of the state’s land mass was reportedly at the risk of gully erosion. He had said: “Anambra today is faced with an existential threat from the scourge of erosion; we are the state with the second highest population density in Nigeria and alongside that, we have the most active number of erosion sites.

“It’s being reported that circa 70% of the land in Anambra State is at risk of gully erosion. This is the precarious state we are in, with less than 3% of our erosion menace under control, we not only ask for more, but wish to charge NEWMAP and her funding partners to declare a state of emergency on Anambra’s erosion menace.”

Despite this sad condition of the state, some of its residents still engaged in unwholesome practices that promote the development of new gully erosion sites and the worsening of the already existing ones.

Across many communities, incessant excavation of the soil surface is still going on. There is also the indiscriminate disposal of wastes, as well as the deliberate blockage of water channels by unscrupulous individuals.

These negative actions undermine the efforts currently being made by the state government to check gully erosion and their devastating impacts in the state, as well as the remedial work already done by NEWMAP.

ObinnaOdogwu, obinnaodogwu77@gmail.com\