Background
Orizu was born in 1915 into the royal house of Nnewi, Anambra State in southeast Nigeria, a son of Eze Ugbonyamba, Igwe Orizu I. He went to the United States in 1939, earning a degree in government at Ohio State University and earning an M.A. at Columbia University. He was an advocate of the "horizontal", broad system of American education as opposed to the narrow "perpendicular" British system, and earned the nickname "Orizontal", a play on his name and a reference to his constant discussion of the theme. As discussed in his 1944 book Without Bitterness, he was a passionate advocate of introducing the American system to Nigeria. He established The American Council on African Education (ACAE), which obtained numerous tuition scholarships from American sources for the benefit of African students.
Around 1949, Orizu bought the Enitona High School and Enitona printing press from a supporter for only £500, which he borrowed. Another supporter sold him a luxury bus on an installment plan. He established a newspaper known as The West Africa Examiner and became the managing Director, while M.C.K. Ajuluchukwu was the editor. He went to Enugu to console the striking miners after the shooting of 21 miners on November 18, 1949. Possibly in reaction to a fiery speech that he made there, the British colonial authorities sentenced him to seven years in jail for allegedly misappropriating the funds of the ACAE. But later Roy Wilkins, chairman of ACAE in the USA, wrote a letter to Nnamdi Azikiwe ("Zik") exonerating Dr Nwafor Orizu of any financial impropriety.
Read more about this topic: Nwafor Orizu
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)