ABSTRACT
Winner of the Commonwealth Prize for Literature, novelist, short-story writer, and political activist, Festus Iyayi was born on September 29, 1947, at Eguare-Ugbegun in Edo State of Nigeria. From a privileged background, young Festus attended C.M.S. Primary School from 1955 to 1960. He proceeded to Annunciation Catholic College in 1962, where he obtained his West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1966. His spectacular result influenced his easy admission into the then-exclusive Government College, Ughelli, for his Higher School Certificate (1967–68). He distinguished himself in the school by winning the Kennedy Essay Competition for the zone in 1968. He earned a master’s degree in 1974 in industrial economy at the Kiev Institute of Economics, Kiev, in the USSR. His Ph.D. degree in management and administration was obtained from the University of Bradford, England, in 1980. He specialized in organizational analysis and behavior.
