A new
lease of life for Nigerian writers
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday,
March 23, 2008
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•Modibbo,
FCT Minister
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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The literary community in Nigeria can now rejoice. For many
years, it has looked forward to having a writers’ village.
As each year went by, it looked like a mirage, because nothing
was happening. But, at last, it is within the realms of possibility,
following the recent succour provided by the Minister of FCT,
Aliyu Modibbo.
In his characteristic magnanimity and commitment to literature,
the late Military Administrator of the Federal Capital Territory,
Major General Mamman J Vatsa, had allocated 62 hectares of
land to the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) to build
its writers’ village before he was killed by the state
after being implicated in a failed coup attempt on the Babangida
military regime.
For more than a decade, that parcel of land has not been developed
by successive ANA administrations due to its usual limited
resources, therefore, incurring a debt of 22 million naira
as tenement rate (an average of I million naira per annum).
As a result of its significance to the association, the issue
has always been a major talking point at different ANA conventions
over the years. Expectedly, the incumbent ANA president, Hon.
Wale Okediran, as part of his campaign promises in the 2003
Kano election, vowed to see to the realization of the writers’
village.
Since then, his administration has been working assiduously
to see the dream come true. But the dream got a big boost
on Thursday March 13 when he led a team of ANA delegation
to the Minister of FCT, Dr. Aliyu Umar Modibbo, in Abuja.
In response to Hon. Okediran’s speech, which extolled
his administration’s approach to governance and, most
importantly, the decision to rename the Social Development
Secretariat, Abuja, in honour of the late Nigerian writer,
Cyprian Ekwensi, the minister informed the visiting team that
his vision was to give ANA a land, but since Vatsa had done
that, he would wave the 22 million Naira debt the association
has incurred and also help in developing the land.
“We want to develop Abuja into a world-class cultural
city.
We have also just identified a more than 50 hectares of land
along the Airport Road to build film village,” he noted.
On the forthcoming Things Fall Apart @ 50 celebrations by
the association, he pledged his support to some of the programmes
slated for the occasion, including the “Children Carnival”
and “Nite of Tributes”, which will take place
in Abuja.
He requested that the association meet with the FCT Education
Secretariat to work out all necessary modalities for the unveiling
of the Cyprian Ekwensi Council for Arts and Culture to take
place on the same day as the Achebe event in Abuja.
The minister, who expressed his disappointment at the continuous
fall in the standard of education in the country, assured
the association of its readiness to work with them to salvage
the situation.
He recounted a recent experience where, to his disappointment,
he paid an unscheduled visit to a 20-year-old school in the
Bwari Area Council of the FCT where he found a library with
a near empty bookshelf. He informed the visiting team from
ANA that his ministry will be embarking on three-neighbourhood
library project this year and would appreciate the collaboration
of the association.
Hajiya Maryam Ali Ali, the National Financial Secretary of
the association, thanked the minister and members of his team
and presented him a collection of some members’ books
on behalf of the association and the visiting team, which
included Mallam B.M. Dzukogi (Treasurer), Omale Abdul-Jabar
(Ex-Officio), Mr. Hamza Kamal (Chairman, ANA Niger), Odoh
Diego Okonyendo (PRO, North), Miss Gloria Kalu (ANA Abuja)
and Jerry Adesewo (ANA Abuja).
Meanwhile, as the count down to the Achebe colloquium approaches,
the association has unveiled the poster of the colloquium
in Kebbi State. The event took place at a special reading
inside the historic Kanta Museum in Argungu during the recent
Argungu Fishing and Cultural Festival.
The town of Argungu was alive with cultural splendour and
the ambience of the museum, with all its cultural properties
celebrating the proud heritage of the people of the town,
was ideal for the epoch-making event.
Before then, the visiting team, led by Denja Abdullahi, ANA
general Secretary, made a stopover at Birnin-Kebbi, the capital
city of Kebbi State, a 45 Kilometer drive from Argungu, where
the scribe visited the chairperson of the chapter, Hajiya
Maimuna Bala, who is not just a permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Education, Kebbi State but a prolific writer herself.
The chairperson and members of the ANA Kebbi State Executive,
including the secretary, Mallam Abubakar Kalgo, assured the
visiting general secretary that the chapter is set to go places
and would later in the year organize a workshop for writers
across the country in the historic town of Argungu, where
the chapter will be formally inaugurated. During the visit,
the efforts of the National Executive Council in bringing
the association close to people in the northern part of the
country was commended and its general activities across the
country was applauded.
Mallam Abdullahi, in response, said visiting Kebbi State was
like homecoming for him, for he had worked for five years
in the state in the early 1990s, during which he started the
chapter with other people, which unfortunately did not survive
after his departure.
From Birnin-Kebbi, the train moved to the community-owned
Kanta Museum in Argungu, where a reading was organized. Some
members of the association and the curator of the museum,
Mallam Mohammed Bello Argungu, attended it.
The reading commenced with Mallam Denja Abdullahi briefing
members on the Things Fall Apart @ 50 celebrations, after
which he unveiled the poster for the celebrations. Thereafter,
the chapter’s secretary, Mall Abubakar Kalgo, read from
a collection of poems he is packaging on Argungu town and
the fishing festival. He read poems such as “Matan Fada”,
“Kabawa” and “Okada”, which are about
aspects of Argungu's history and culture.
Then Mallam Denja Abdullahi read from his latest published
piece for children entitled “The Talking Drum”.
He also read three poems, “Marvel of the Durbar”,
“The Riverside Carnival” and “A Conversation
with My Past.” The curator of the museum, Mohammed Bello,
thanked members of ANA for visiting the museum and for writing
to enlighten people about our cultural heritage.
He expressed the willingness of the museum to host members
of the association extensively when they visit again.
The reading ended with a quick tour of the museum, which houses
the artifacts related to the history, heritage, occupation,
war relics, musical instruments, including the cemetery of
past rulers of the Kabawa people of the Argungu Emirate in
Kebbi State. |
