Book Review: There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe

By Wilson John, Makurdi, Nigeria

When I first opened Chinua Achebe’s There Was a Country, I thought it would just be another history book filled with dates and wars. But as I read, I realized it was more like listening to a wise elder telling the story of our country’s past: both the good and the painful parts.

Achebe wrote about Nigeria’s early years, when independence brought so much hope. He described a time when it seemed Nigeria would shine in the world. But soon, things fell apart. The Biafra war came, and with it hunger, suffering, and division. Reading those pages made me sad because I could almost picture children like me during the war, not in classrooms but running from bombs and begging for food.

For me, the most striking part of Achebe’s story is not just the war, but what caused it: bad leadership, greed, and tribalism. These problems still affect Nigeria today. Sometimes, when I hear news about corruption, insecurity, or when I see schools without enough teachers and hospitals without medicine, I feel like we are still living in the shadow of the mistakes Achebe described.

But Achebe did not just talk about the past. He challenged us, the younger generation, to learn from history. As a Nigerian teenager, this made me think of the Nigeria I want to see. I want a Nigeria where leaders serve the people and not themselves, where our diversity is our strength, not a reason to fight. I want a Nigeria where young people like me can dream without fear of poverty, strikes, or insecurity.

Reading There Was a Country showed me that we cannot build the future we want if we forget the past. Achebe’s words are like a mirror, reminding us of what went wrong, but also like a lamp, showing us the path to a better Nigeria.

In the Nigeria I want to see, there will no longer be a story of “There Was a Country.” Instead, there will be a story of “Here Is a Country”, united, peaceful, and prosperous.