The yearly grant that spurs ANA
In the past seven years, a legal
luminary, Yusuf Ali (SAN), has been giving yearly grants to the Association of
Nigerian Authors (ANA) for literacy campaign in Nigeria. Edozie Udeze in
this report assesses the progress made so far by states that have benefited
from the grants.
In the past seven years or so, the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has been receiving financial grants for
the promotion of literature and literacy in Nigeria. The annual N3million
grants by Yusuf Ali SAN, has in the past years been of great assistance for
literature mostly in schools across the nation. Before this grant was introduced
by Ali, the state of the promotion of literature in the society seemed to be in
the doldrums. Ali’s idea in the first place, is to ensure that this
money is properly disbursed to state chapters of ANA that are in dire need of
financial help to extend the frontiers of literacy to schools, mostly among the
youths who have indeed lost touch with their literary values.
Since ANA is vested with the
responsibility of promoting the reading culture in Nigeria, its national
leadership immediately devised means to ensure that the grants are properly
utilized. This was why states were told to forward formats and programmes
that would encourage more people to gain from the grants. So from state
to state proposals were sent to the national offices of ANA. But there are
few states that have not benefited from these grants.
They have not, not just because the
money has not been evenly distributed but because they have not shown
sufficient concern to benefit from the grants.
However, for this laudable ideal to
sufficiently fulfill its national vision, it is advisable for more states to
key into this. Nonetheless, for those that have applied for the grants,
the results have been quite tremendous. The literacy awareness campaign
by Ali is catching on; it is a delight for helping the children not get
addicted to watching televisions most of the time. Now, with more
literary materials at the disposal of school children, it has become much
easier to revitalize the ideals of reading by creating more awareness.
Even though the grants to the states
have been minimal, it is clear to see what nice and beautiful programmes they
have been able to execute with the money. According to some of the state
chairmen of ANA spoken to in the process of this report, much has been achieved
so far. From Benue State, came the report that the state has benefited
tremendously from this project. According to Charles Iornumbe the
chairman of ANA in the state, “Benue has received up to three (3) years out of
the seven years history of the grants. We got in 2016, we also marched it
with the financial support we solicited for from the state government and other
bodies as well as individuals. Thereafter, we launched the
awareness campaign at the Akawe Torkula College of Advanced and Professional
Studies, Makurdi. This was so because our focus that year was basically
on tertiary institutions”.
The state went on to inculcate more
programmes to deepen the ideals of the project. “We took the campaign to
the nook and cranny of Benue. Schools visited were college of Education, Oju,
College of Education, Gboko, College of Education, Katsina-Ala and Benue State
University , Makurdi. In some places, we read literary books and then
presented same as gifts to students who could answer our questions correctly”.
Equally last year, the grant was
given to states in form of books. The national offices of ANA this time
decided to use the grant to produce more books for schools. These
literature books were then distributed to schools for their local needs.
Writers were asked to come up with various write-ups on children. These
were later collated and termed the A-Book-A Children Project. Then
by May 2017 the handlers of the Nigerian Writers Series were mandated to
ensure that books were produced for immediate use and distribution. States were
given books for distribution based on their needs with the level of commitment
as a benchmark. The A-Book-A Child’s Project took off soon after
with the public presentation happening in different forms in different states.
“Yes”, Iornumbe enthused, “our
judicious application of the Yusuff Ali grants has made Benue people have more
confidence in ANA. Today, Yusuf Ali is a household name in the
state. Owing to this fact, we have garnered more numbers. So far we
have gathered over forty new members and Benue ANA is the better for it.
We pray that more Nigerians take a cue from what Ali has been doing so that
literacy in the larger society will prosper more”, he said.
From Bayelsa, came the report that
more young writers have been discovered and noted in the state due to the
prospects of these grants. Its chairperson, Mrs Bina Nengi Ilagha said,
“last year’s Yusuf Ali ANA competition was specifically targeted at
tertiary institutions. Yes Bayelsa State proposal for the grant was
successful. We were one of the 16 states that got the grant for 2016″.
Nengi, who sent in a comprehensive
report on the issue, said further, “the essence of our proposal was simply for
contestants to read Chinua Achebe’s 1966 novel – A Man of The People.
Then they were asked to write a final chapter 14 beyond the 13 chapters of the
original book. An essay was given to students of higher institutions in
the state based on this topic. Then a one day seminar was organized to
prepare them for the competition”.
Of course, all the higher
institutions in the state were involved. In the end those who won were
amply rewarded with gifts and commendations. It is interesting to note
that the Bayelsa model produced one of the most amazing discoveries of the project.
Apart from organizing the competitions in phases for easy implementations, a
lot of publicity was given it to ensure that more students were offered the
opportunity to participate. “Yes some members of staff of ANA were on
radio programmes to talk about it”, Nengi revealed.
From then on, those who were
involved took it upon themselves to generate more awareness in order to make it
more engrossing. When the first stage of the competition was done, five
names were shortlisted out of which 3 were eventually chosen. The level
of knowledge and intelligence displayed by these students was amazing.
This showed that if given the enabling environment and wherewithal the youths
can go places. Not only that, some books were given to participants and
the level of enthusiasm they displayed was a demonstration of renewed hope for
the future.
So also was the zeal shown in Lagos,
the Centre of Excellence. In the words of Yemi Adebiyi, the state
chairman of ANA, “over the years, the annual grant by Yusuf Ali to ANA to
institutionalize literacy campaign and encourage the reading habits of
Nigerians has been one of the major annual events embarked upon by ANA.
It is one event that has been executed in similar fashion in all the ANA
branches nationwide. Indeed Lagos has been a regular beneficiary due to
its laudable projects and for the fact that more Nigerians reside in the
state. In fact, in 2015 Lagos ANA got its first grant of N150,000 with
which it did some projects.
As a departure from what others did,
they used the money to purchase books written by ANA members for distribution
to schools. Also, it was used to organize seminars and workshops
for schools in the mainland areas of the state. “Yes”, Adebiyi admitted,
“some of the secondary schools are in the Bariga areas of Lagos. In 2016, we
used the money to reach out to tertiary institutions who were invited for a
literary competition. This was held at the University of Lagos. It
was a month programme during which a book, Pass On The Baton, was used
as a platform”,
Thereafter, the programme moved to
the CRMMD Public Library in Idimu, Lagos. Then more books were shared out
to the delight of beneficiaries. Adebiyi is really excited that so far,
the state has shown tremendous leap in this regard. To him, the climax is
the A-Book-A child campaigns embarked upon by ANA. “Oh, in Lagos, a
school in Surulere that has nursery and primary was selected for the
distribution of the books. Of course, Denja Abdullahi has done well in
this regard”, he disclosed.
The Kogi chapter of the association
has also been one of the greatest beneficiaries of this campaign. Its
chairman Dr. Kennedy Obohwenu described the projects as more encouraging
for the literary growth of the younger ones. He said, “Kogi ANA has over
the years shown strong commitment to the promotion of Nigerian literature in
line with the laid down principles guiding the operation of ANA at all
levels. Just last year, we executed a comprehensive literary contest for
all secondary schools in the state. These were in 21 local government
areas of the state. The epoch-making event lasted for 6 months.
This was done based on our grants from the ANA national for the Yusuf Ali
literacy campaigns”, he volunteered.
In all, it is clear that some states
have shown reasonable commitment. It is left for ANA to further seek ways
to ensure that more states key into this for the promotion of the reading
culture in Nigeria so that more wealthy individuals can come in to help
literature go places. There are other states that have also shown
interest in this programme and have done much to prosper literacy in their
states.
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