Marking the fifth anniversary of Prof. Ben Obumselu’s death, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be delivering a lecture titled “The Intellectual and Public Service in 21st Century Africa” at an online event on the 25th of August, 2022.

In addition to Adichie the event boasts a stellar lineup that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and editor Dele Olojede, poet and writer Prof. Niyi Osundare, activist Ayo Obe and many others. Open to the public, you can register to attend here: https://bit.ly/3QMvasp.

The idea of the intellectual – a person possessed of a highly developed intellect – is usually associated in our collective imagination with disengagement from the common interest of society in politics, business, sports, and social relations. This stereotype – like most stereotypes – contains a kernel of truth.

The intellectuals’ work is the work of the mind. It is a deeply self-centered activity often requiring solitude and focus. From the intellectuals’ concentration sometimes emerge ideas previously incomprehensible to the world. These ideas are often true and sometimes helpful. Galileo Galilei announced to the surprise of his contemporaries that the earth resolved around the sun. He was promptly locked up.

This is the price. The intellectual who sets aside the often solitary work of the mind to engage with the society in which they live sacrifices something of themselves. This sacrifice they make in acknowledgment of their obligation to their fellow citizens and the societies that have nurtured them.

Like all sacrifice, the intellectuals’ is often shirked. Few intellectuals make sacrifice of their time, solitude and freedom to the service of society. Ben Obumselu was such an intellectual. In many ways he represented all the promise of the influential generation of university graduates from Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan, in the mid-1950s.

Graduating as best student in the Faculty of Arts in 1957, he went on to obtain a doctorate degree from Oxford University. A distinguished professor of English, a combination of scholarship and political engagement informed much of his life.

In addition to being the key writer behind the Ahiara Declaration, Professor Obumselu is also widely viewed as one of the founding fathers of African literary criticism. He also contributed to laying the initial intellectual frameworks of both the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The selection of speaker is also apt. Adichie has also not shirked the sacrifice required of the public intellectual.

One of the world’s leading contemporary novelists, she has engaged in public discourse on issues such as feminism, the dangers of prejudice and other issues of public concern.

In this new season, when the anomie of our political class is to be found on every lip, perhaps we should pay attention.

You can register to attend here: https://bit.ly/3QMvasp.