PN Okeke
As secondary school boys, I remember the gradiosity and fascination around PN Okeke, how I was in awe when I passed his house at Odim Street, UNN.
In the university academic circles, He is popularly known as the father of astronomy in Nigeria, in secondary schools, for students who took physics, no one taught it better.
There were tales that "PN, Okeke thinks in physics, he balanced every conversation in differential equations before he responded"
He married someone similar, they both went on to become professors of physics.
Prof PN and Prof FN Okeke.
I took a stroll into the university the last time I travelled home. A lot of things had changed, I don't think he lives there anymore. The lawns were not well manicured as it used to be, there was a cranky generator sound coming from the compound, PN would use solar.
I wanted to be like PN OKEKE, bag an MSc, Ph.D, publish journals, marry a writer but I pursued survival instead, the gods were not going to crack my palm kernels, I had to do it myself , maybe it’s not too late... A PhD one day, maybe… I don’t know.
Ikeja, Lagos
May 11, 2024