Enugu, Jan. 20, 2024 (NAN) The renowned author of “One Week, One Trouble,” Prof. Anezionwu Okoro, dies at 94.
His first son, Chukwuma Aneziokoro, confirmed his death to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Enugu.
Chukwuma said his father died peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Saturday in his house in Enugu.
”He had been sick for some time, but he died peacefully around 4 a.m. He was a great man—a caring father and husband. I will solely miss him,” he said.
Born May 17, 1929, the nonagenarian dermatologist is the author of many fictions in medicine and health, environmental sciences, and ecology, including One Week, One Trouble, The Village School, and The Village Headmaster.
Prof. Anezi, as he is fondly called, has also written over 200 poems.
His recent publication is the translation of 10 Lamb’s tales of Shakespeare into Igbo language, entitled `Akuko Ufodu Shakespeare Koro’, in collaboration with another author, Mrs. Nwobiara Chukwura.
Okoro, a native of Arondizuogu in Imo, is the first dermatologist in West Africa and the second in Africa.
Prof. Okoro had his secondary school education at the Methodist College, Uzuakoli, Abia State, Nigeria.
Anezi worked as a house surgeon at University College Hospital, Ibadan, from 1957 to 1959. He began his career as an academic in 1975 as a professor of medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
He was the president of the African Association for Dermatology from 1986 to 1991. Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Lagos from 1977 to 1981. He was a visiting professor at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, in 1987; at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1988; and at King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, as a professor of dermatology from 1989 to 1995.
The nonagenarian was a one-time chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) and a member of the Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PTDF).
He is survived by his wife, Ese, a gynaecologist, and four children. (NAN)
