We love Achebe, but rejecting the award to honor his contributions to literacy does not make any sense. I would think, the smartest thing would be use the opportunity to pass on his message of disillusionment of the political trend in Nigeria. You cannot affect a change by side-talking, sitting on the fence and not channeling the appropraite viewpoint to the right quaters, rigth time and right place. The world, and infact the deaf naija politicians would have heard his message if he accepted the award, organized reception party and mounted a pulpit to talk/express about his feeling regarding the present and past Nigerian leaders, and the sufferings of the people. As poor and ailing as our economy, a reception party in his honor would have generated millions of naira for our country. Did he think about the economic aspects of the award - not for him (because we know he is wealthy), but for businesses in Nigeria and beyond? An Igbo saying goes like this, "one does not add pepper to an aqueous solution made for curing an ailing eye".
This is a pointless comment. Him not accepting the honor has sent a louder message than if he did. Having said that, he already received 2 when he thought Nigeria was young and will soon turn around but at 51 nothing has changed. He's now firmly saying NO until the bad government is fixed. By the way the honor isn't giving to you. so what's your problem?