Obinna Charles Okwelume

Dr. Obinna Charles Okwelume. (born September 20, 1981 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria) is an African scholar, journalist and playwright.
Biography
He studied at St. Anns Nursery and Primary School and De World International Secondary School all in Port Harcourt. Obinna (meaning "Father´s heart"), as he is fondly called, studied Mass Communication in , Nigeria, graduating with a First Class honours degree in 2003. He has a Master's degree in International Relations from London Metropolitan University where he received a full Postgraduate Scholarship; and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in African Studies (Media and Anthropology) from the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham. He received the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations award in 2001 for his contributions to literary writing and the RE Bradbury Memorial Prize in 2010 for the best thesis in the School of History and Cultures at the University of Birmingham. He worked briefly with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the Group Public Affairs Division, Abuja and the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Abuja, Nigeria in the Public Relations Unit. He founded the Dynamics Choir and Dynamites Theatre in 1997. Through his works, he founded and is Coordinator, Save Africa Project, a project that aims to immortalise African culture via literature. Okwelume is a member of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and The Chartered Institute of Journalists, UK; an Associate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management. He also, is a member of the Royal African Society, UK and was president of the International Students Association of the University of Birmingham, 2006-07. He was Editor-in-Chief of the NYSC FCT Editorial Board and also member of several Editorial Boards. He is currently at the National Universities Commission.
Doctoral Thesis
Dr Okwelume began his doctoral programme at the University of Birmingham in September 2006. He successfully completed his PhD in the autumn of 2009. As a research student, he designed his own research activities and during fieldwork trips to Nigeria he was able to gather valuable original data, using his interpersonal skills and his knowledge of the terrain to great advantage. His library research was also thorough and extensive. The PhD topic was the persistence of caste practices and the effects of mass communication on attitudes to such practices in Eastern Nigeria. The discrimination experienced by people classified as osu in the Igbo-speaking regions of Eastern Nigeria continues to be a problem, despite repeated official attempts to ban the use of the term and all the practices associated with the institution. Because it is still a very sensitive subject, the fieldwork was exceptionally challenging and required a great deal of tact, persistence and local knowledge. Okwelume was able to assemble a remarkable body of material, based on formal and informal interviews, focus groups, locally published books and newspapers, television programmes and video films. Using his links with the Nigerian media, he also made innovative use of a radio programme, through which he requested listeners to phone in with their comments, and ran an internet discussion forum which yielded fascinating insights into the attitudes of Nigerians in the diaspora. The fieldwork material was presented against the background of the history of the osu cult, based on extensive library research. The project was intended to have an impact on government policy and public attitudes by bringing a balanced, well-informed body of research to bear on this highly secretive and more or less tabooed issue.
Books
His published books include Ogurigwe (2001), Arrow of Vengeance (2002), Three Plays (2002), Babel of Voices (2002), Drumbeats of Black Africa (2004), Dictionary of Mass Communication (2006), Those Who Live in Glass Houses (2016), and Stories My Father Told Me (2016). Okwelume currently spends his time as a writer and journalist. He is also engaged in public relations.

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