Founding General Manager of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Onuora Nzekwu, has passed away at the age of 89, his family confirmed on Saturday.
Nzekwu, who is also the author of the novel Eze Goes to School died around 4.30pm on Friday in his home in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Born on February 19, 1928, Nzekwu joined the Federal Civil Service in 1956 as an editorial assistant at the Nigeria Magazine Division of the Federal Ministry of Information and served in that capacity until 1958 when he because editor-in-chief.
He received the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1961, which enabled him to study American Methods of Magazine Production with Crafts Horizons in New York.
In 1964, Nzekwu was awarded a UNESCO Fellowship which allowed him to study copyright administration for three months in Geneva, Prague, Paris, London, New York and Washington.
At the advent of Nigerian Civil war in 1966, he transferred his service to the Eastern Nigeria Public Service but later returned to the federal service in 1970, after the war.
He was the General Manager of NAN from 1979 to 1985 when retired from the Nigeria Public Service, serving the government for 39 years.
Nzekwu was presented with a plaque with the engraving “Maker of NAN” when the agency celebrated its 30th anniversary in Abuja on August 8, 2006.
A holder of the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), his other works include Wand of Noble Wood, Blade among the Boys, Highlife for Lizards and Troubled Dust.
