Two royal fathers receive Olauda Equiano LifeTime Award

Also, a crusader for the rights of widows, Dame Gozie Udemezue, was ‘anointed’ with her own conferment for being a ‘heroic’ champion of widows’ rights on the second dayof the convention held at the French Cultural Centre, Enugu.President of the Delta Book Club, organizers of the event, novelist Dillibe Onyeama, while addressing the gathering on […]

Also, a crusader for the rights of widows, Dame Gozie Udemezue, was ‘anointed’ with her own conferment for being a ‘heroic’ champion of widows’ rights on the second day
of the convention held at the French Cultural Centre, Enugu.
President of the Delta Book Club, organizers of the event, novelist Dillibe Onyeama, while addressing the gathering on the occasion which held at the Family Support Programme (FSP) Training Centre, Enugu said that the awards were given to the “revered royal fathers for their outstanding works for charity in their respective rural communities.”
Onyeama  said  the Coal City Book Convention was created to celebrate the rich culture of story-telling amongst the Igbo people of Nigeria, recalling  that the innovation behind its creation dated back to 1745 when an Igbo lad by name Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his native Isseke at the age of 10, and shipped off  as a slave to England.
“Ultimately he won his freedom from bondage, and later published his memoirs in London in 1789 with the title The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This made him the first black person in the history of the English written word to be published in volume book form,” Onyeama said.
According to him, the book convention immortalized Equiano with the Olaudah Equiano Life-Award to outstanding achievers east of the Niger whose exemplary careers should serve as “inspiration to our youths and a reminder that you do not have to be a rough-tough kid to attain greatness.”
He explained: “ So anybody who has no time for books may be on a self-destructive course; because every man is a book in his own right, and every story deserves to be heard by Divine right.”
He said that since 2009 when the book convention was set up till date, it has “crowned 11 heroes with The Olaudah Equiano Life-Award.”
Chairman of the occasion, who was a former President General of the Igbo apex socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife said that writers helped to shape the thoughts, actions and perceptions of their generation and future generations; hence they deserved to enjoy the fruit of their labour.
Dr. Ikedife enjoined authors to come together to encourage establishment of bookshops and book stalls, stressing that occasionally  authors could  “send scouts to ferret out pirated books in bookshops and hotel lobbies, to ensure that pirated copies are not sold, thereby prevent robbing the authors of royalties they are entitled to.”
“Authors/writers belong to the topmost echelon of intellectuals of the society.
They are usually very observant, imaginative, creative, prophetic and philosophical with uncommon ability to express their observations and thoughts in lucid, enduring, endearing and alluring language. They are a rare breed. They have great influence on both old and young….A society without writers is doomed,” according to Ikedife.  
Receiving the award which was presented to them by the Registrar of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Professor Festus Eze, Igwe Chris Ogakwu said he dedicated his award to the entire Udi people, noting that when he was approached by the organizers, he gladly accepted the offer since it was in recognition of his work to his community. “People who know me know that I certainly would not compromise what belongs to the Udi people and they also know that I will always condemn any evil act done by anybody no matter whose ox is gored,” Igwe Ogakwu emphasised.
Also speaking, the traditional ruler of Nike, Odezulu Igbo 111 of Nike, Igwe Julius Nnaji said   “If you are doing something good, there are people recording it, trying to document it for posterity.