Okowa Mourns Literary Amazon, Buchi Emecheta
Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has expressed sadness over the death of Nigeria’s literary amazon, Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta, describing her passage as a monumental loss to the country and the literary world.
In a tribute by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, on Thursday in Asaba, Governor Okowa, extolled the immense contributions of the late writer to the growth and development of literature in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.
The Governor noted that the literary works of Emecheta promoted Delta State, Nigeria and Africa, hence she will be celebrated by lovers of literature all over the world.
Governor Okowa described Emecheta, winner of the 1979 New Statesman, Jock Campbell Award for The Slave Girl, 2005 Order of the British Empire OBE, as a consummate patriot, a great literary icon and a teacher par excellence, whose literary theme centred mostly on child slavery, motherhood, female independence and freedom through education.
The CPS stressed that the Governor On behalf of the government and people of Delta State, commiserate with the Emecheta family of Ibusa and the entire literary world over the demise of the late cerebral writer of “Second-Class Citizen” fame, adding that the state has lost a great woman who was once described as the most successful black woman novelist living in Britain.
While noting that She will be sorely missed by all and sundry whose lives she affected in many ways with her literary arsenal. Governor Okowa urged all who mourn the demise of the late Buchi Emecheta to take solace in the fact that she remains alive through her literary works.
He prayed God to grant her immediate family the strength to bear the irreparable loss, pointing out that her numerous achievements in the literary world will always be remembered.
The late Buchi Emecheta died in London on January 25, 2017 at the age of 72 years.
