A book, being the product of a human mind, does indeed, strictly speaking, owe its life to many contributors, some of them known and others unknown, some of them direct and others indirect, some proximate and others remote. This list of contributors – in principle as inexhaustible as it is imprecise – would range from the author’s own parents and family, of course, to school teachers and other adult mentors, and from the countless other “actors” involved in the author’s life experiences to even his own social or ideological group, and the community at large, through whose value-tinted lenses he most likely is viewing his subject matter. The part played in producing this book by all such contributors is hereby gratefully acknowledged. At a more direct and specific level, however, I wish to thank my wife, Ifeoma, for her strong support throughout this undertaking, including her patience and tolerance of the late-night demands of book writing. Equally recalled here is the special contribution of my children, Nnenna and Josh, the thought of whom always inspires me. Finally, I am grateful for the technical support provided by Mrs. Pamela Odhiambo, whose secretarial and modern information technology skills ensured that my own veritable deficiencies in those areas did not prove fatal to the mission of producing the book
