Mahama to deliver the inaugural Chinua Achebe Lecture

President John Dramani Mahama has been inivited to deliver the maiden Chinua Achebe Forum Lecture on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.

A voracious reader of the late Nigerian literary luminary’s books, President Mahama will be delivering the lecture at the Sosnoff Theater at Bard College in New York in honour of a personal invitation sent him by author of the widely read Things Fall Apart while he was alive. He passed on in March this year.

President Mahama will lecture on the theme: “Women in Africa: How the other half lives”.

“The Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum brings together international leaders and thinkers to discuss Africa’s challenges, in keeping with Professor Chinua Achebe’s life and work,” a statement on the College’s websites stated.

The theme of this year’s gathering is “Africa’s Future: Hopes and Impediments—Inspired by Professor Achebe’s Work,” it added.

Chinua Achebe had “graciously” proofread President Mahama’s first written piece and written a note for it, the Ghana President revealed this year when he attended the funeral of Achebe in Anambra State.

The Forum is scheduled to be opened with a performance from Sankofa, a Ghanaian music group. Ghanaian Poet Abena Busia is also expected to give a reading.

A profile of the life of Chinua Achebe, who lectured at the College for nearly 20 years, will be delivered by Professor Christie Achebe on the theme: “Professor Achebe's Life in Perspective: The Writer and the Quest for Exemplary Leadership and Good Governance in Africa.”

“Following the lecture will be a discussion with President Mahama; the Honourable Nana Oye Lithur (the Republic of Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection); Amini Kajunju, President of the Africa-American Institute; and Professors Myra Young Armstead and Peter Rosenblum of Bard College. The subject of the discussion is ‘The Role of Women in the Development and Democratization of Africa.’”