Tinubu names Abuja road after Chinua Achebe
Joseph Irikefe
President Bola Tinubu has approved the naming of the M18 road infrastructure in the Guzape District, Abuja after late renowned novelist, Chinua Achebe.
The President stated this during his address at the inauguration of the road in Abuja on Saturday, June 8.
The Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, also confirmed this in a post.
He wrote: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Commissions the M18 road infrastructure in Guzape District of Abuja, names road after Nigerian Novelist and Poet, late Professor Chinua Achebe.”
Achebe was born in November 1930 and died in March 2013. He was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature.
His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel.
President Tinubu had renamed the Arterial Road N20 from Northern Parkway to Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX) as Professor Wole Soyinka Highway.
This had been recommended by the Federal Capital Territory administration.
President Tinubu had noted that Soyinka was the first African to win the Nobel Literature Prize, adding that the literary icon has brought honour and fame to Nigeria.
The distinguished playwright, poet and novelist willl turn 90 on July 13, 2024.
The President also commended the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and his team “for what they are doing” in the capital city.