Content area
Full Text
Nigeria, Aug. 27 -- Imponderable time. It is the only thing constant in human affairs. It flies on, irrespective of every concern. Was it not only "yesterday" - 27 August, 2021 - that we celebrated Nyaknno Osso's 67th birthday, using the occasion as a handle to sing about his accomplishment as a leading Nigerian librarian? Yet, we are back at it again today for he has added another year to his God-given span on Mother Earth. Nonetheless, we discuss Mr Osso today, not majorly on the number of hours he has added since the last time he was our topic of general discussion. No. Our attention has now turned to the existential - in a manner of speaking. Before that, however, we may review what was said during our last time out on the man.
This was what I wrote in an article entitled "Toast To A Great Librarian": "Well, it is often said that all dance settles in the waist. Nnyaknno had started with library work at the University of Ibadan in 1971. He later transferred his services to Cross River State. He became the librarian of the Chronicle newspaper at the "insistence" of Ray Ekpu who was then the newspaper's editor. There, a chance meeting with Dele Giwa who, on a visit to Calabar had sought information for his weekly Concord column, "Parallax Snaps", left the seasoned and stylish journalist impressed. When Newswatch magazine was established in 1985, Giwa and Ekpu dragged Nnyaknno along with them to set up the magazine's library. Nnyaknno's work took him to and through all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in search of libraries and information. He visited most parts of the world, touring presidential libraries and acquiring additional knowledge from titans in the field. He has left an indelible legacy in the establishment of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library. He has readily fed all our voracious appetites for information over the years. But, all through that extended vista of his professional life, he had operated as an employee."