Saro wiwa biography

Activist, writer

Served in Government Posts

Became Activist for Ogoni Rights

Sources

The life and death of Kenule Saro-Wiwa reflected the massive changes that transformed his native country of Nigeria in the last half of the twentieth century.

Born into a ruling tribal family in the Delta region of Nigeria, Saro-Wiwa was among the first graduates of the newly independent nation’s University of Ibadan in 1965. He then served as a federal administrator for the Bonny Island oil terminal, a key source of the country’s growing wealth from its energy reserves.

Saro-Wiwa supported the federal government’s efforts to stop the state of Biafra from seceding in a bloody civil war from 1967 to 1970 and at the conclusion of the war was rewarded with an appointment as the commissioner of education for the region’s Rivers State.

After running afoul of authorities for criticizing official corruption, Saro-Wiwa began a new career as an