World famous writer, Chinua Achebe has again been honoured with the Commander of the Federal Republic - Nigeria's second highest honour.
Achebe is among the 364 Nigerians that will receive the 2011 national honours. This latest honour comes after Achebe in 2004 rejected the same honour by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and criticized the dangerous state of affairs in the country.
In his two-page letter about rejecting the honour published in Nigerian newspapers in 2004, Achebe was most scathing about the situation in his home state of Anambra.
"A small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom."
Anambra state governor Chris Ngige was last year kidnapped and forced to write a resignation letter at gun-point.
"Nigeria is a country that does not work," Achebe said: "Schools, universities, roads, hospitals, water, the economy, security, life." There was a four-day national strike last week over a rise in fuel prices, while more than 10,000 people have been killed in communal clashes since Mr Obasanjo was elected in 1999, the BBC said in reaction to Achebe's letter. There was a four-day national strike that October in 2004 over a rise in fuel prices, while more than 10,000 people had been killed in communal clashes since Obasanjo was elected in 1999.
Achebe told the media that he hoped that rejecting the Commander of the Federal Republic - Nigeria's second highest honour - would serve as a "wake-up call".
He also said that he hoped the recent wave of strikes and protests would continue until there is "change".
A special advisor to President Obasanjo, Femi Fani-Kayode, told the BBC that Achebe had the right to reject the award.
But he said the author had lost touch with some of the events in Nigeria during time spent abroad and said a lot of progress had been made since President Obasanjo came to power, with fewer living in poverty.
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