Typical of the extremely organised personality that he is, the multiple award-winning poet, Niyi Osundare, had already “served notice” of his imminent visit to Nigeria, weeks before he came.
He had been invited by the organisers of the “Nigerian National Order of Merit,” , to deliver a lecture at the 2022 edition of the Annual Forum of NNOM Laureates, in Abuja.
In 2008, Osundare also earned the “Tchicaya U Tam’si Prize for Poetry, . He was in 2014, invested with the Nigerian National Order of Merit, , Nigeria’s highest award for academic excellence. I knew Osundare before I met him. Back in the days, in one of our “literary criticism” classes as final year students at the University of Ilorin, Russell Chambers, one of our American lecturers came to class one of those days. He was clutching a file of cyclostyled documents, which he handed over to one of us to distribute to the class.
I should add that it is a measure of Tripathi’s uncommon disposition to scholarship that he would himself go to the university library, loan books on my behalf and bring them to my room in the “postgraduate hostel!” My inquisitions took me to the University of Ibadan, where Osundare was Head of Department of English. I had an elaborate interview with him on June 17, 1988, during which I took very copious notes in the absence of a recorder.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Fraud investigators plan forensic laboratories across Nigeria | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsChartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) is to establish world-class forensic laboratories across the federation. The first of them will be built before the year ends. The disclosure is coming on the heels of the assent to the bill for CIFCFIN’s charter by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 23, 2022. […]
Read more »
Remembering Nigeria’s controversial legend Emmanuel Ifeajuna | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsEmmanuel Ifeajuna is without question one of the most controversial names in Nigerian history. His achievement in sports won him the adulation of Nigerians. His later activities in the military, however, enraged some Nigerians so much that they no longer want to hear ...
Read more »
2023 Golden Globe: List of Key Nominees | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsHere are the nominees in key categories for the 80th Golden Globe Awards, which will be handed out on Tuesday. “The Banshees of Inisherin” — a dark comedy about the abrupt end of a friendship on a tiny Irish island during the 1920s — leads all films with eight nominations, followed by the surreal sci-fi […]
Read more »
NIS dismisses 4 personnel, demotes 14 | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsThe Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has dismissed four personnel and demoted 14 others for various offences.
Read more »
Senegal halts night buses after crash killed 40 | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsThe Senegalese government decided Tuesday to ban night buses between towns and villages after the death toll in a weekend head-on crash left 40 dead.
Read more »
Group alleges partisanship in access to PVCs collection | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsBarely 45 days to the conduct of the general elections, an interfaith group has raised the alarm over alleged deliberate denial of access to PVCs based on ethnic and partisan considerations, and has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to speedily address “old politics” that could disenfranchise Nigerians registered for the exercise. The […]
Read more »