ABSTRACT
Early Life Nnamdi Azikiwe was an Ibo who was born in Northern Nigeria and spoke fluent Hausa, the Northern trade language. Fluency in Hausa helped him become a national leader later in life. Azikiwe was educated at the Church Missionary Society's Central School at Onitsha, the Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar, and the Methodist Boys' High School in Lagos. While in high school, he read the work of Marcus Garvey. At age sixteen he vowed to redeem Africa. That same year, Kwegyir Aggrey spoke at his school and told the students. "Nothing but the best is good enough for Africa." Since both of Azikiwe's heroes, Garvey and Aggrey, were based in the United States, Azikiwe was determined to go there, acquire an education, and return to uplift Nigeria.
