Nigerian award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said her feelings toward her home country have fundamentally changed following the d3ath of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu, and that she no longer wants to return to Nigeria.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Adichie was asked whether Nigeria still felt close to her heart. She replied: “My feelings toward Nigeria have changed. I do not want to go back to Nigeria.”
Nkanu, one of Adichie’s twin sons with her husband, Dr. Ivara Esege, d!ed in December 2025 (with some reports placing the d3ath in early January 2026) after a medical emergency at Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital in Lagos.
According to Adichie, the child first developed a fever and was placed on antibiotics by his father. When his condition did not improve, the family took him to the hospital for further examination. He was sedated with the anaesthetic propofol for an MRI scan, after which he suffered cardiac arrest and d!ed the following day.
Adichie has publicly alleged medical negligence in the handling of her son’s care. She recalled a doctor telling her afterward that the child had been given too much propofol, words she said she would never forget.
The family has called for accountability and improvements in Nigeria’s healthcare system. An inquest into the circumstances of the d3ath remains ongoing, and the couple has indicated they are not primarily focused on a lawsuit.
Before the tragedy, Adichie described Nigeria as central to her identity and literary work. She said the country has given her “everything” she needed to become a writer, even as she spent significant time in the United States. The family had regularly returned for holidays, and Adichie has not been back to Nigeria for about six months at the time of the interview.
She noted that her surviving children could be the only reason she might reconsider returning. Her daughter still regards Nigeria as her “happy place.” Adichie described the experience of her son’s d3ath as surreal, saying she still struggles to process that they are speaking about a child who has d!ed.
The statement has drawn widespread attention in Nigeria and beyond, renewing discussions about patient safety, medical standards, and the emotional toll of personal tragedy on connections to home. Adichie, celebrated for novels such as Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, remains one of Nigeria’s most prominent literary voices on the global stage.
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