Prominent Nigerians

Full Name: Buchi Emecheta
State of Origin: Delta.
Ethnicity: Delta Ibo.
Date of Birth: 21st July, 1944
Died: Wednesday January 25, 2017
Cause of Death: Natural Death
While she was sleeping
Nationality: Nigerian, British
Marriage status: Married.
Spouse(s): Sylvester Onwordi
Num. of Children: Six
Parents: Mr and Mrs Jeremy Nwabudinke and Alice (Okwuekwuhe) Emecheta
Residence: Lagos, Nigeria
Language: Igbo and English
Religion: Christian
Alma mater: University and Emecheta, University of London
Occupation: Entrepreneur, Novelist, Writer, Librarian
Facebook: Buchi Emecheta

INTRODUCTION
Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta populaly known as Buchi Emecheta was born by Igbo parents Jeremy Nwabudike and Alice Ogbanje on July 21, 1944 in Yaba Lagos, Nigeria.Both parents are from Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria. Her father was molder on the railways in the 1940s.
Although young Buchi was a brilliant child while in school, she did not have a smooth life as a child, due to the gender bias of the time, the young Buchi Emecheta was initially kept at home while her younger brother was sent to school. Later she spent her early childhood at an all-girl's missionary school, but her brilliance and intelligence won her scholarship to the then prestigious Methodist Girl’s High School at the age of ten and she was engaged at age of eleven; but after her father was killed as a soldier in the British army in Burma, things began to fall apart for Buchi and the family. So when she was 16 in 1960 Buchi was forced to marry Sylvester Onwordi due to circumstances beyond her control and had a child.
Onyebuchi was married at age 16 and immigrated with her husband to London in 1962.

Buchi Emecheta, one of Africa’s most celebrated literary icons and author of the popular novel, The Joys of Motherhood, is dead. She died on Wednesday in her sleep at the age of 72 while in London.

EDUCATION
All-girl's missionary school
Methodist Girl’s High School,
University of London, B.Sc. (honors) in sociology 1972

CAREER 
After bearing two children in Nigeria, Buchi moved to London to join her husband who had gone there to study Accounting. Things were more difficult for her in London. She later opted out of the marriage to save herself from the ceaseless battering from her husband. But in spite of her marital challenges, Buchi proved a strong woman when she worked hard and earned herself an Honours Degree in Sociology. In this way, she was able to work as a social worker in London while she single-handedly fended for her five children. Rather than be drowned by the challenges before her, Buchi Emecheta saw freedom and self-expression in writing; so she began to write to complement her job so as to enable her to adequately support her family. She wrote very early in the morning every day before she went to work. Little wonder then that most of Buchi Emecheta’s writings are based on her personal experiences. 
From 1965 to 1969, Emecheta worked as a library officer for the British Museum in London. From 1969 to 1976 she was a youth worker and sociologist for the Inner London Education Authority and from 1976 to 1978 she was a community worker.

Buchi Emecheta became a full-fledged writer when she published her very first novel, In the Ditch (1972) – a detail of her experience as a single parent in London. Then in 1974 her second novel titled Second Class Citizen came out. This novel also has London as its setting. After these two novels are The Bride Price, The Slave Girl and The Joys of Motherhood published in 1976, 1977 and 1979 respectively. Among all of these The Joys of Motherhood seems the most popular. In 1982 Emecheta felt the need to pass her own comments on the Nigerian civil war; so she produced Destination Biafra. The indefatigable Emecheta did not stop at that. She wrote other interesting novels which include Double Yoke (1983), The Rape of Shavi (1983), Gwendolen (1989) and Kehinde (1994).

PUBLICATIONS/WORK:
Novels

• In the Ditch. London, Barrie and Jenkins, 1972.
• Second-Class Citizen. London, Allison and Busby, 1974; New York, Braziller, 1975.
• The Bride Price. London, Allison and Busby, and New York, Braziller, 1976
• The Slave Girl. London, Allison and Busby, and New York, Braziller, 1977.
• The Joys of Motherhood. London, Allison and Busby, and New York, Braziller, 1979.
• Destination Biafra. London, Allison and Busby, 1982.
• Double Yoke. London, Ogwugwu Afo, 1982; New York, Braziller, 1983.
• Adah's Story. London, Allison and Busby, 1983.
• The Rape of Shavi. London, Ogwugwu Afo, 1983; New York, Braziller, 1985.
• A Kind of Marriage. London, Macmillan, 1986.
• Gwendolen. London, Collins, 1989; as The Family, New York, Braziller, 1990.
• Kehinde. Oxford, Heinemann, 1994.

Fiction (for children)

• Titch the Cat. London, Allison and Busby, 1979.
• Nowhere to Play. London, Allison and Busby, 1980.
• The Moonlight Bride. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1980.
• The Wrestling Match. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981; NewYork, Braziller, 1983.
• Naira Power. London, Macmillan, 1982.

Plays
Television Plays: A Kind of Marriage, 1976; the JuJu Landlord, 1976.
THE DAYS OF YOUTH:
She did not have a smooth life as a child, due to the gender bias of the time, the young Buchi Emecheta was initially kept at home while her younger brother was sent to school. Later she had opportunity to go to school.
LOVE, MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN
She engaged when she was just eleven years old but when she was 17 Buchi was forced to marry due to circumstances beyond her control.
The union is blessed with six children.
On her successful marriage and motherhood
After bearing two children in Nigeria, Buchi moved to London to join her husband who had gone there to study Accounting. Things were more difficult for her in London. She later opted out of the marriage to save herself from the ceaseless battering from her husband. But in spite of her marital challenges, Buchi proved a strong woman when she worked hard and earned herself an Honours Degree in Sociology.

AWARDS, HONOURS, LAURELS AND RECOGNITIONS

• Jock Campbell Award from the New Statesman in 1979,
• BSc (Honours), University of London, 1972.
• New Statesman Jock Campbell Award for The Slave Girl, 1979.
• British Home Secretary's Advisory Council on Race, 1979.
• Arts Council of Great Britain bursary, 1982–83.
• One of Granta′s "Best of the Young British Novelists", 1983.
• PhD, University of London, 1991.
• Order of the British Empire, 2005
• Who's Who in Anioma, 2011
• Who's Who in Ibusa, 2011