By McPhilips Nwachukwu

When the Babanginda administration appointed Dr Walter Ofonagoro the Director General of Nigerian Television Authourity NTA, little was it known that, that simple policy decision by the new helmsman was going to inaugurate a revolutionary trend both on stage, movie and in the entire literary appreciation of one the greatest prose narratives of the last century, Things Fall Apart.

Ofonogaro’s decision to commission the television shooting of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart surprisingly turned out to be one of the finest and most effective business decisions that transformed the entire entertainment turf.

And this decision was driven by one factor. The existence of a good story. The story of one man, a genius. That man was Chinua Achebe, who in an attempt to tell the story of clash of culture and civilization succeeded in telling a universal story that resonates with truth and emotion.

Achebe’s novel, written from the hindsight of history challenges the prevailing Darwinist theory of superiority imposed on Africans by Eurocentric writers and anthropologists.

Writing from the conviction such much espoused in his essay, The Novelist as a Teacher, he tells a very beautiful story that captures the beautiful soul and mannerism of the black world.

Through his own engaging narrative power- domesticated English language that carries the syntax and rhythm of the native language- Achebe tells the story of a generation in a way that it can longer be ignored even by the real owners of the English language.
Achebe, Martin Adaji, Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria observes, “had this craft of speaking and writing the English language. If he spoke English, using English language, you would think that he was speaking Igbo to you. You would begin to think about what he spoke to you in your own native language. He spoke the English language with the fluidity of Igbo language.”

It is perhaps the depth of Achebe’s use of language, the simplicity of his prose and the communicative power of his proverbs that attracted theatrical and stage interests on the entire gamut of his creative oeuvre.

Therefore, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation started off the journey in 1961 with a radio/ television drama called Okonkwo which was said to have featured Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.

Also in 1987, the book was made into a very successful miniseries directed by David Orere and broadcast on Nigerian television by the Nigerian Television Authority. It starred several established film actors, including Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh and Sam Loco.

Interestingly, It is some of these early cast of television set of Achebe’s famed Things Fall Apart; Nkem Owok, late Sam Loco and indefectible Pete Edochie that became some of the pioneer and poster faces of Nigeria’s commanding movie industry.

The successful adaptation of the novel by Nigerian Television Authority also encouraged some other Nigerian scholars and theatre practitioners to look at Achebe’s others works.

In this regard, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka professor of Theatre and Dramatic Arts, Emeka Nwabueze as part of Achebe’s 60th year birth day anniversary in 1990 adapted Arrow of God. It titled, When the Arrow Rebounds.

Besides, Nigerian Television Authority’s shooting of Things Fall Apart, Nigerian born and British based scholar, Biyi Bandele Thomas also adapted Things Fall Apart for the stage.

The stage attempt at interpreting Achebe’s narrative of the colonial encounter has not only helped to deepen the postcolonial discourse, but more fundamentally, aided in the popularization of both the authour and the text.