A scholar of Cell and Molecular Biology, Prof Mark Nwagwu, tells BIODUN BUSARI how he recently defended his second PhD thesis in Cultural Studies and New Media, and how his professional work in science and the arts has made him the only Nigerian who is both a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors
How would you describe your childhood?
I grew up in Aba, Abia State. The years covering my primary and secondary education are captured in my memoir, Dreams Dance. During my primary school years, I faced an academic crisis because I used to score zero in arithmetic. I wasn’t good at it at all.
But 1944 was the worst year because that was when I ran away from school because of mathematics. I was flogged all the time. I was miserable. I would leave home as if I was going to school and only return when I saw the other pupils coming back. I joined them as though I had attended school that day.
However, by 1945 and 1946, things became a little better because I was in a different class and had been promoted. By 1948, I was in Standard Five. I had improved in English and arithmetic. My grammar had also improved, and I wasn’t doing too badly.
