Academy of Letters honors Profs. Achebe, Osofisan, others; Why it matters so much to me – Chinua Achebe’s daughter
Academy of Letters honors Profs. Achebe, Osofisan, others; Why it matters so much to me – Chinua Achebe’s daughter
The Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) held its 28th Convocation, induction of new members and investiture of regular and honorary fellows in Lagos, yesterday, Thursday, August 13, 2026, and in the case of one of the honorees, Professor Nwando Achebe, history was made.
The NAL is Nigeria’s national academy and the apex scholarly body for the humanities, arts, and literature, and yesterday’s historic event took place at the J. F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos.
It was founded on 17 July 1974, and the Academy’s seven Foundation Fellows are some of Nigeria and Africa’s most distinguished intellectual figures of all time – Professors Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J. F. Ade Ajayi, Adiele Afigbo, Ayo Bamgbose, Adeboye Babalola, and J. P. Clark-Bekederemo.
Yesterday’s event was hosted by the President of the Academy, Professor Andrew Haruna, FNAL, and among those honored were Professor Nwando Achebe, daughter of literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, who was among the Founding Fellows. Professor Nwando was honored as an Overseas Fellow.
Others honored were Professor Emeritus Femi Osofisan as a Distinguished Life Fellow, Professor Remi-Raji Ovelade, who was inducted as a Regular Fellow for 2025, and nine new Regular Fellows who were inducted for 2026.
The Academy also honoured the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji (Dr) Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, CFR, and Professor Ephraim Olabode Lucas as Honorary Fellows, while filmmaker, Tunde Kelani, D.Litt, received the NAL Award of Excellence in Humanistic Practice.
The event was particularly historic for Professor Nwando Achebe, a Michigan State University, United States of America Professor of History, as according to her, it represents “a full-circle moment, a homecoming of sorts.”
She said: “More than fifty years ago, my father, Chinua Achebe, became one of the seven Foundation Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Letters. Fifty years later, I was elected to the Academy as a Member. And today, I have had the extraordinary honor of being invested as a Fellow—joining my late father in the ranks of the Academy’s Fellowship.
“I cannot quite put into words what this one means to me. I have spent my life walking my own scholarly path, but there are moments when that path circles back and meets the one from which I came. Today feels like one of those moments: a daughter following her own road and, more than half a century later, finding herself standing in a place where her father once stood.”
She said she was elected a Member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters in 2023, 50 years after her father became a Foundation Fellow, and in 2026, was elected and invested as an Overseas Fellow, joining her late father in the ranks of the Academy’s Fellowship, 53 years later.
“For me, of course, the honor has an additional and deeply personal significance: it represents recognition of my own scholarly journey while also bringing me, more than half a century later, into a fellowship in which my father was a foundational figure.
Overseas Fellowship recognizes distinguished scholars based outside Nigeria, making the honor particularly meaningful to her scholarly career at Michigan State University.
