Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has renamed Anambra International and Cargo Airport, Umueri, to Chinua Achebe International Passenger and Cargo Airport. The airport was named after Professor Chinua Achebe, an African and global hero, who declined to accept two Nigerian national honours in his lifetime due to perceived injustice to his home state. Soludo believes it is now incumbent on Anambra to honor Achebe's greatest gift to the literary world. Achebe was a globally acclaimed writer, founder of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in 1981, and a critic, activist, organizer, publisher, politician, and uncommon leader. He rejected the award of the high national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic in 2004 and rejected it when it was re-offered in 2011. Achebe's oeuvre is intimidating, with his classic novel Things Fall Apart ranking among the greatest novels ever written in the world. His death at Harvard University Teaching Hospital in Massachusetts, USA, at the age of 82, shook the world, with tributes pouring in from all continents. Soludo's drive to turn Anambra State into a liveable and prosperous homeland has received the ultimate uplift with the naming of the Achebe International Airport.
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