Many prominent Nigerians on Friday reacted to the death of Prof. Chinua Achebe, a literary icon, and called on the Federal Government to immortalise him.

Achebe died in the early hour of Friday in U.S. at the age of 82.

A political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi  said that Achebe had earned immortality through his works, but should be further immortalised.

“Achebe’s book, ‘Things Fall Apart’’ is recognized as one of the extraordinary books ever written.

“Achebe, through his writings, was one of the first to capture the leadership problem with Nigeria and today, it has become prophetic as Nigeria stumbles through leadership issues,” Utomi said.

An Igbo socio-cultural organisation, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, urged the government to name a national monument after Achebe.

“A national monument, preferably a university, should be named after him, so that Nigerian youths will appreciate the value of education,” Ohaneze’s spokesman, Mr Tonnie Oganah, said.

The Lagos State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party said Achebe should be given a state burial and a posthumous national award.

“His contributions to nation building, education and particularly literature, will remain immortal,” the party’s spokesman, Mr Taoffik Gani, told NAN.

The President, Igbo Youth Congress (IYC), Mr Bright Ezeocha, called for three-day mourning for the late don in the South-East states.

Afenifere’s spokesman, Mr Yinka Odumakin, noted that Achebe’s book — “The trouble with Nigeria’’, identified the issues still bedevilling the nation.

“It is unfortunate that Nigeria has not tapped into his wisdom and knowledge.”

Human rights lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu, who described Achebe as a forthright and courageous man, said:“The younger generation has a lot to learn from Achebe’s courage and convictions.

“He was a voice against corruption, mediocrity and ignorance and expresses his opinion no matter whose ox is gored,” he said.

Nigeria’s first female Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Grace Alele-Williams, also described the Late Achebe as a man who loved his country dearly.

Until his death, he was serving as a distinguished professor at BrownUniversity, an Ivy League school in Rhode Island, United States.

Alele, a professor of Mathematics, who was Vice-Chancellor of University of Benin, said the late writer would be remembered for putting the name of Nigeria on the map, through his literature works.

According to her, Achebe loved his country and wrote boldly about happenings, not minding whether people liked it or not.

“We were classmates in UniversityCollege, Ibadan, in 1949; we got our first degree in 1953.

“It was wonderful to be a classmate of a hardworking man like him, who put Nigeria on the global map.

“I am really sorry; we all came and will go one day; may his soul rest in peace,’’ Alele-Williams told NAN on telephone.

A former Education Minister, Mrs Chinwe Obaji, told NAN that the late novelist touched so many lives literarily, and was able to shape the minds of Nigerians, both the young and old.

“The death of this great scholar is a blow to the nation and the world at large; we take consolation in the fact that he was able to leave some legacy before his demise.

“He is a Nigerian known all over the world for good, by virtue of his intellect.

Obaji noted that through his literary work, especially `Things Fall Apart’, Achebe foretold happenings in Nigeria, and that many of his projections were manifesting in the country.

The National President , Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Isa Fagge, also said the demise of the foremost novelist, was “a colossal loss to the academic community’’.

Fagge said  that he impacted positively on the academic world globally.

He said Achebe would always be remembered for his contributions to the development of the education sector of the country.

“Here was an icon who had written a lot and achieved many feats, enlightening a lot of people within and outside the country.

“His demise is indeed a very painful and sad loss to us as  academia and as Nigerians; may his great and gentle soul rest in peace,” he prayed.

Prof. Peter Okebukola, former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), described the passage of the literary icon as a huge loss to the nation and the academic world.

“Achebe will be sorely missed by the entire world, because he touched the lives of many literarily.

“He will remain evergreen in the hearts of old and young alike, for generations yet to come”.

 Achebe’s most famous book, “Things Fall Apart”, has been translated into over 50 languages and is rated among the best in the world.

Achebe, an indigene of Ogidi, a village in Anambra, was born on Nov.16, 1930.

 Chinua Achebe, who has been called the father of modern African literature published five novels, as well as collections of essays, poems, short stories, and a memoir about his experiences during Nigeria’s 1967-1970 civil war.

NOVELS:

Things Fall Apart (1958)

No Longer At Ease (1960)

Arrow of God (1964)

A Man of the People (1966)

Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

SHORT STORIES:

The Sacrificial Egg and Other Short Stories (1962)

Girls at War and Other Stories (1972)

African Short Stories (1985)

Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (1992)

The Voter (1994)

POETRY:

Beware, Soul Brother (1972)

Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems (1973)

Don’t Let Him Die: An Anthology of Memorial Poems for Christopher Okigbo (1978)

Another Africa (1998)

Collected Poems (2005)

ESSAYS:

“Morning Yet on Creation Day” (1975)

“The Trouble With Nigeria” (1983)

“The World of the Ogbanje” (1986)

“Hopes and Impediments” (1988)

“The University and the Leadership Factor in Nigerian Politics” (1988)

“Beyond hunger in Africa: Conventional Wisdom and an African Vision” (1990)

“Home and Exile” (2000)

“The Education of a British-Protected Child” (2009)

“The Igbo and their Perception of God, Human Beings and Creation” (2009)

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

Chike and the River (1966)

How The Leopard Got His Claws (1973)

The Drum (1977)

The Flute (Fourth Dimension, 1977)

MEMOIR:

“There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra” (2012)

Source: Brown University, where Achebe had been on faculty.