We need a culture of grants, sponsorship to keep arts
alive’
By Florence Utor
06 May 2018 | 4:17 am
Association of Nigerian Authors
(ANA) held a two-day capacity building workshop for its states’ executive
members on the theme ‘Innovations in Contemporary Literature Awareness Campaign
in Nigeria,’ which recently took place in Ilorin.
Special guest of honour was Justice
Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), who in his address acknowledged the contributions of Dr.
Wale Okediran for working to make sure the association fulfils its aim and
objectives of promoting literature in both indigenous and English languages
among others. Akanbi said he knew Okediran as a writer not a medical doctor,
which he is by training and practice because he had read so many of his
writings. He advised that knowledge is power and people should develop a
reading culture, which is what made him in life. “Forget about the people
stealing,” he said, “read avidly and your life will be better.”
Akanbi, who has been promoting
education for as long as he remembers, said he was glad to help promote
education which is the only thing he could leave behind as his footprint in the
sands of time, which is what matters.
According to Akanbi, “Money is not
important. What you impact in people’s lives is what matters and education is
key. If Nigeria were doing this long time ago, we would have been far ahead.
Japan is far ahead as a result of their reading culture.”
Akanbi, who donated a hall located
within the Mustapha Akanbi Library to ANA, encouraged the association to
contact him anytime they needed help and even as a pensioner, he would do his
best to assist.
ANA president, Abdullahi Denja, in
his opening address said each year the association tries to justify the support
given to it by their patron, Mallam Yusuf Ali, by making sure that they hold
good programmes that make impact.
According to Abdulahi, “Ali has been
supporting the association since 2012 with N3 million each year, which he gives
without us reminding him and which he has promised to give as long as he is
alive. In my capacity as the president of ANA, I can tell you that his support
has done a lot to stabilize the association. Some of us may wonder about the
three million naira. I tell you, it is small and it is big. In this present
Nigeria, if you ask a rich man for N200,000 you will pursue him for two years
to get it. When you write to government for such support your letter will come
back to you saying, ‘we regret to inform you that we can not assist, but we
like the programme. Go ahead; God help you.’ So, if an individual, out of his
own belief, support and love decide to do this, it must show that he is very
passionate about this subject. It is with his grant that we use to plan a lot
of things and make sure that this association is kept alive.”
Abdulahi said Ali was impressed with
what ANA leadership has been doing with the money since he started giving it,
adding, “In the western world, art is kept alive by grants, commitments,
foundations giving regularly; that process has to be in Nigeria. That is what
we are advocating. Our benefactor has been generous to us year in year out; he
has thrown a challenge to us. We have to keep on our toes in terms of
fashioning new skills in innovative things that will make the grant keep
coming; we cannot rest.”
Abdulahi asked state chapters to
change the old ways they were doing things, saying the world was fast moving
beyond that otherwise they would not make impact. In order to further enlighten
them on new innovations, resourceful people were brought to share their
experiences with the hope it would have a ripple effect through the participants.
To speak on ‘Managing and Financing
Literary Projects and Programmes for Optimum’ results than former president of
ANA, Okediran, who has managed all sorts of projects for ANA for four years. As
he said, “With ANA’s objectives of literary projects and programmes such as to
promote literature in both indigenous and English Languages, to discover new
and emerging writers in the country and see to the improvement of their welfare
among other objectives, capacity building for organisational effectiveness cannot
be over-emphasised as it is the ability to strengthen an organisation to
achieve desired outcome. It is inevitable that the association must perform all
of the functions of a healthy not-for-profit NGO such as sufficient income to
ensure stable programming, internal source of cash or ready access to cash in
times of shortfalls, as well as engage in income-based, rather than
budget-based, spending.”
The importance of funds could not be
overemphasized as Okediran insisted that the association must retain a positive
cash flow balance so that when deficit occurs, there are accumulated surpluses
sufficient to cover the current year’s deficit and that the board and
management hold themselves responsible for the financial stability of the
organisation among other things.
Okediran advised that state chapters
should establish good avenues to keep writers busy as well as have their works
critiqued and edited and to develop good interactions among other writers who
are invited as guest writers and to encourage good publicity in local media. He
encouraged writers to attend residencies, which are enabling environments for
writers to complete their ongoing works in an atmosphere of serene tranquility
and quietness needed for the craft, adding that it is new in Nigeria but
necessary and expedient.
He did not fail to mention the
challenges that come with residency. According to Okediran, some of the
problems encountered are funding, political/social problems, hosts community,
relationships may be misunderstood, supervision of residents, poor
understanding of residence programme by some writers as some of them get to the
venue before thinking of what they want to do and also developing health
problems while at the residence.
Having worked on several projects,
he acknowledged that raising funds for literary event was challenging due to
the twin problem of apathy to literary activities and a shrinking economy, as
well as literary event not being a crowd-pulling event among others. The former
president told ANA executive to always assist writers in the north, as it is
usually a bit more difficult to do things there. He, however, encouraged
members not to be scared of fundraising.
Another presenter from Pukyong
National University, Busan South Korea, Faculty of Humanities and Social
Science, Okeke Job Izuchukwu, who was a member of the association before going
for further studies in Korea, spoke on ‘Digital and Literacy in Nigeria:
Surmounting the Challenges of Disruption and Enhancing the Reach of the Story.’
Izuchukwu said the World Economic Forum held this year conceptualized the
creative industry as the portion of the economy containing jobs that rely on
knowledge-based and non-repetitive skills as their key attributes. This
encompasses creative endeavours such as music, film and television, gaming,
advertising, publishing and literature, as well as architecture, design, arts
and fashion.
Izuchukwu, however, focused on the
area of interest, which is literature. He said before the colonial era, the
main pastime of the people was storytelling. During the colonial and immediate
post-colonial Nigeria, literary culture flourished and the best of Nigerian
literary craft such as Things fall Apart, The Concubine, The Lion and the Jewel
among others were created at this time. He said the digital intrusion into the
economy is not all about Nigeria but all over the world and that there is
debate ongoing about the role of technology in shaping what content audiences
are exposed to and defining what types of content flourishes online.
He said publishers have used
technology to find bigger audiences for their content but have less direct
control over how that content is discovered. He noted that the disadvantage was
that local publishing industry, especially in Nigeria, the digital makes it more
difficult to push our kind of literature content to the consumers who are
increasingly tech savvy, and would prefer soft copies which are cheaper and
more convenient to carry, among other challenges.
He, however, questioned how creative
writing and the publishing industry are reshaping itself in the digital era in
order to reap from works. Izuchukwu suggested solutions to the numerous
problems the industry faces in a digital age and said literature should be made
part of pop culture by deepening existing book/literature through book clubs,
book programming on radio and TV shows, Facebook and video book clubs. He
advised participants not to say they couldn’t do these things, but that they
should begin discussion how to achieve some of the goals.
He also suggested building synergy
with government by bringing book events to the public domain as well as
adapting them into movies among other things.
Children were not left out of the
discussion, with Funmi Ilori describing them as the future of the country. Ilori
is a professional teacher, a child lover, innovator and storyteller and founder
of the first innovative mobile library for children in Nigeria. She said
exposure to knowledge is the main trigger for innovation and creativity, adding
that sustainable development goals call for ambitious progress, ensuring all
children receive high quality education that develops the breadth of skills
they need to be successful in a changing world.
Children are the adults of the
future and they have open minds that can be influenced and educated positively,
she said. As such, Ilori suggested that in order to reach 150 million children
by 2030, there was need to find new ways to move faster and reach more
learners.
Ilori’s ambition is to transform libraries so that every community in Nigeria has access to an attractive, vibrant, multi-functional library services.
Her strategy for achieving this is
to place the libraries at the centre of local communities to ensure universal
access, establish campaigns to promote literacy services among other things.
Among other things, Ilori encouraged participants to dream big but start small.
ANA Vice President, Mr. Camilus Uka,
commended ANA Ilorin Chapter chairman, saying it was not about the name of the
city but what comes out of it adding, “We have two distinguished personalities,
Akanbi and Yusuf Ali. This city is a pilgrimage for this association!”
Chairman, Lagos State chapter of
Nigerian Publishes Association, Mr. Alli Semaka Okunade (left); Mrs. Folake
Bademosi; president, Nigerian Publishers Association, Mr. Gbadega Adedapo; the
association’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Emmanuel Abimbola and member, Mr.
Olakunle Sogbein at the press briefing last… in Lagos
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