Nigeria, July 4 -- I attended Government Secondary School, Fadan Kaje (GSSFK) from 1975 to 1978. Formerly owned by Catholic missionaries, and called St. Joseph, the school had Reverend Father John Haverty as the Principal. Catholic priests largely managed the school.

One of our Nigerian teachers was the current Emir of Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State, Alhaji (Dr) Zubair Jibril Maigwari II. Another was an NYSC teacher, late Dr Sule Bello, who we nicknamed "Weazacap" - from "With the cap."

But no teacher so influenced me in GSSFK like a British teacher, whom we fondly called "Titomthy." In Form Two, he passionately read to us the abridged edition of EA Ritter's Shaka Zulu (SZ); Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (TFA); James Ngugi's (later Ngug...