Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has stated that she no longer feels the same way about Nigeria after the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu.
In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, Adichie stated that the loss of her kid has affected her sentiments about her home country.
When asked if Nigeria still felt close to her heart, the novelist responded bluntly.
“My feelings toward Nigeria have changed,” she said.
“I do not want to go back to Nigeria.”
Nkanu, one of Adichie’s twin boys, died in December 2025 due to a medical emergency at Euracare in Nigeria.
According to Adichie, her husband, Ivara Esege, treated the boy with antibiotics after he developed a fever.
When his condition didn’t improve, the couple took him to the hospital for further treatment.
She stated that Nkanu was later drugged with propofol during an MRI examination, after which he experienced cardiac arrest and died the next day.
Adichie recalled the occasion in which a doctor approached her in a condition of stress following the treatment.
“He was very calm, and he said to me, ‘Well, look, they gave him too much propofol.'” Those were his exact words, which I will never forget until the day I die,” she recalled.
In June, Adichie publicly accused the hospital of medical incompetence for the treatment her son suffered.
The facts surrounding Nkanu’s death have since been the subject of a coroner’s inquest, with the proceedings apparently delayed and marred by arguments between the family and the hospital.
Euracare has reportedly accused Adichie and her husband of destroying evidence by cremating their son’s remains, which is relevant to the ongoing procedures.
Adichie and her husband have advocated for improvements to Nigeria’s healthcare system but have not filed a lawsuit against the hospital, according to the story.
When asked about the idea of returning to Nigeria, Adichie stated that her children could be the only reason she would do so.
She stated that her daughter still considered Nigeria to be her “happy place.”
Prior to her son’s death, Adichie stated that Nigeria remained strongly connected to her identity and work, characterizing it as the place where she acquired “everything” that enabled her to become an author.
However, the pain of losing her son has changed that bond.
“I mean, it is so surreal, all of this. I still can’t believe we’re talking about my son who died,” she said.
“You’re going through something, but you also feel like you’re outside of it.”
