Our New Book on Nigeria

Professor Moses Ochonu, Dr. Osmund Agbo, and I are delighted to announce the publication of our new book titled Dis Life No Balance: An Anth...

Professor Moses Ochonu, Dr. Osmund Agbo, and I are delighted to announce the publication of our new book titled Dis Life No Balance: An Anthology of Nigerian Diaspora Voices. 

Published by Parresia, the book contains 36 essays as well as three extensive, back-and-forth conversations by the authors on important existential questions confronting Nigeria, and is introduced by a foreword by Professor Toyin Falola, an eminent historian and globally renowned man of letters.

The book, which will be officially released on October 1st, 2023, can be purchased at the Roving Heights bookstore in Lagos and Abuja or from https://rhbooks.com.ng/,  the bookstore’s website. They deliver nationwide and they have arranged to make the book available in many cities across Nigeria through their network of partner bookstores. 

Dis Life No Balance is also available on amazon.com as a downloadable e-copy and as a print-on-demand book. Ahead of its official release, you can preorder the book at 20 percent discount from Roving Heights bookstore.

In the essays, we tackle a variety of Nigerian socioeconomic, political, cultural, and human-interest topics, bringing our unique perspectives as diaspora Nigerians and as professionals in our respective fields to bear on a wide range of Nigerian, African, and global issues.

Nigeria takes center stage in the reflections, analyses, and discussions contained in the book. The essays constitute our intervention on issues affecting Nigeria and connecting her to a fast-changing world of competition and opportunities. The essays are also our way of thinking of home from abroad, and of expressing both the anxieties of exile and the discursive freedoms that distance from home confers.

Some topics covered in the essays are:

Restructuring

Igbo presidency

Japa

Electoral Reform

Ethnicity

Corruption

Patriotism

Nigerian Onomastics

Federal character

ASUU and University Education

Here are some advance reviews of the book:

OKEY NDIBE: In their thematic breadth, analytic rigor, sweeping command of facts Nigeriana and global, and stylistic vitality and wit, Farooq Kperogi, Moses Ochonu and Osmund Agbo stand out as three of Nigeria’s most compelling, fearless and principled commentators and pundits. In Dis Life No Balance, the trio have pooled their respective gifts into a rich, riveting smorgasbord. Here’s a harvest of illuminating insights, provocative reflections and alluringly irreverent takes on some of the major social, cultural and political debates in Nigeria, Africa and the world. I emerged from the book giddy and transformed. Do yourself a favor – read it!

KINGSLEY MOGHALU: A riveting book that illuminates Nigeria’s contemporary politics, society and history. The authors, professionally accomplished Nigerians in the Diaspora, write from the combined perspective of looking in from the outside and looking out from the inside as homegrown Nigerians. Dis Life No Balance is a rare gift, a must-read for anyone who wants to understand contemporary Nigeria and trends in the wider world that hold lessons for the largest country of the black race.

KADARIA AHMED: Dis Life No Balance is a provocative and sometimes uncomfortable read by the trio of Kperogi, Ochonu and Agbo who examined the complications that bedevil Nigeria today with a brutal honesty that is often only made possible by distance and even absence. This book is a must read for those who seek authentic informed commentary on the many dysfunctions of Nigeria but who also want to understand the deep pull the country has on her people and why even those who have left continue to engage with, fight for and live in hope for her future.