By MCD Reporter
After almost eight years of writing her weekly column, “Medals” in Saturday Punch, United States based Nigerian writer, Dr Patience Akpan- Obong has signed off for now.
In the last edition of the column titled IBB as GEJ’s ‘fada,’ and the long goodbye published on January 3, 2015, Akpan-Obong thanked the management of The Punch for giving her the space and the readers.
” You laughed and celebrated with me; you cried and mourned with me. We had fun, fights and make-up conversations. Friends and enemies were made, minds were opened and closed, and lessons were learned.
” I enjoyed writing “Medals” though I must admit that there were times when the process was grueling. I therefore welcome the break. Yes, that’s really what this is because I am a writer and I will always write.
” Our paths will cross again somewhere, sometime. This is therefore not a goodbye but… So long!” Akpan-Obong stated.
Writing of the “Medals” column started 1987 in The Punch after which it was moved to the defunct Sunday Concord in 1990.
She wrote the column for the next four years before it was rested and resumed in Saturday Punch in 2007.
A selection of his Saturday columns formed the bulk of her book entitled Letters to Nigeria: Journal of an African Woman in America published in 2013 to mark her 50th birthday
In an interview with Vanguard in June 2013 Akpan-Obong said ” These words represent much of my life and were therefore a fitting way to celebrate 50 years of a life that was not given a chance to survive age 5 or 15.”
Akpan-Obong, a former Sports reporter with Nigerian Chronicle is an associate professor of science, technology and society in the School of Letters and Sciences at Arizona State University Polytechnic.
She holds a Ph.D in Political Science from University of Alberta and a Master’s degree in Journalism.
She is also the author of Information and Communication Technologies in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges for Development (New York: Peter D. Lang, 2009), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters on the implications of information and communication technologies for socio-economic and political development in resource-poor countries.
