By Chukwuma Ajakah

A Benin based writer and inventor of Nigeria’s only ethnic Current Affairs has been honoured by the Law Students Association of Nigeria (LAWSA), Ambrose Alli Chapter by the Frank Oyibo-led administration. Describing the author, the President said: “Chief Assin is a light to our dying world, hence the award is presented to him in recognition of his philanthropic role to the advancement of LAWSA.”

The author acknowledged the award and expressed his appreciation to the prestigious faculty, describing it as “one of the best in Nigeria law pursuit.”

“Awards like this,”Assin said, “are peculiar particularly when it comes from one of the best facilities of law in Nigeria. Ambrose Alli University made its name a long time ago because of the many successful lawyers that the faculty had produced. It was a school where everyone envisaged to study law at a time. The institution has contributed meaningfully to training of lawyers in Nigeria despite government’s neglect of the institution at some point.”

Assin said he is appreciative of the honour. “I feel so excited to have received this award. It reminds me that the little things I do for humanity are adequately taken note of. Therefore, I have no reason not to be doing more. I am grateful to the leadership of Frank Oyibo for recognizing me as a contributor to the faculty.”

Chief Assin Godstime is a prolific writer in Nigeria, whose literary works cut across prose, drama and poetry. Although he is more accomplished in Prose and Drama, he has written a poetry collection. His works have been approved by several Nigeria governments through the ministry of education in Edo, Delta, Lagos, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kaduna and Akwa Ibom.

Assin won the 2021 Lagos State Government Prize for Literature (Playwright of the Year). He was awarded Young Pace-Setter and Innovative Award by the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU in 2022. This was due to his contribution to the documentation of oral history and preservation of the rich cultural heritage of the Urhobo people in Delta State.

His Urhobo Current Affairs is widely read in Urhoboland and beyond. He also won most creative Writer in Edo State presented to him by Inno Production in 2023. He has received awards from Eloho-Aro Foundation as well as the Ghana Creative Club. Assin is a traditional Chief in both Yoruba and Urhoboland bearing the Onigege-Ara (Stylish Storyteller) and Omo R’Ovie (a king’s child) titles for his enormous contributions to oral history, education, literature and mass media.