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| Osundare |
By ADA DIKE
Felicitations and congratulatory messages have continued
to flow rivers to one of Nigeria’s literary icons, Prof Niyi Osundare, for
being a recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) by President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2014
edition.
According to reports, President Goodluck Jonathan
decorated Osundare with the award on in Abuja on December 4, 2014.
Announcing the award, the Chairman of the council of
NNOM, Professor Etim Essien, described Osundare as an outstanding scholar and
researcher whose service to humanity in the field of humanities has
successfully carved his name in gold in the hearts of people of this nation and
many nations of the world.
NNOM, according to Essien, is Nigeria’s highest and
most prestigious prize for outstanding intellectual and academic attainment
which has encouraged a highly significant number of the best Nigerian minds to
seek accolades at home.
Many people including the
Executive Governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, have
sent congratulatory messages to the dramatist.
Fayose described Osundare’s contributions to scholarship
and research as unparalleled across the globe and added that the literary
giant had carved a niche for himself as one academia that had sacrificed for
the country academic to attract global respect.
Born in 1947 in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria, the
essayist obtained degrees at the University of
Ibadan (Bachelor of Arts), the University of
Leeds (Master of Arts) and York University, Canada (Doctor of
Philosophy (PhD), 1979).
The literary critic became a professor from 1989, Head of
English at the University of Ibadan from 1993 to1997and became professor of English
at the University of
New Orleans in 1997.
Some of his publications include: Songs from the
Marketplace (1983), Village Voices (1984), Moonsongs
(1988), Songs of the Season (1999), Selected Poems (1992), Midlife
(1993), Thread in the Loom: Essays on African Literature and Culture
(2002), The Emerging Perspectives on Niyi Osundare (2003), Not My
Business (2005) and Tender Moments: Love Poems (2006).
Some of the his works that won awards are: The Eye of
the Earth (1986, winner of a Commonwealth
Poetry Prize and the poetry prize of the Association
of Nigerian Authors) and Waiting Laughters (1990, winner
of the Noma Award), among
others.
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