The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has called on Nigerian writers to fight with words and not with swords emphasising that literature remains the missing link in all forms of our national development including security.
The President of the Association, Mr Camillius Ukah stated this during the 40th Anniversary of ANA held in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
“Literature is a tool for security as it grooms the mind, we believe that a nurtured mind cannot be involved in activities of banditry or terrorism.”
ANA leadership said in a consensus that the members need to write about the insecurity challenges with the aim of exposing those responsible for banditry, terrorism and corruption.
The Association tasked its members to raise their voices against the unprecedented and unspeakable security challenges facing the country at the moment.
In a message on its 40th anniversary, ANA projected the voice of Ada Aharoni on security challenges facing the country saying, “How come the cultural world is silent? where are the intellectuals, the journalists, NGOs that should bomb terrorism with their words and their pens and throw them out of our lives and our planets forever, bombing terrorists with planes from the skies is not enough, we have to go to the source of their sinning souls and bomb them, condemn them and shame them with all the power of our pens and our creative works.”
Delivering a keynote address on; Creativity, Literacy Advocacy and Nation Building: The Role of Nigerian Literature,” Prof Akachi Ezeigbo, said there is no end to the ways in which literature can contribute to national development.
Ezeigbo identified literature as the most effective discipline to provide the humanistic education Nigeria needs to make progress and escape the scourge of corruption, ethnicity, nepotism, greed and bad leadership.
“Literature teaches us about life, enriches our experience of human psychology and relationships, which are needed to build character and nurture balanced human beings.”
She called on global writers as well as indigenous writers to work together to reposition the Nigerian nation.
Ezeigbo further called on policy makers to encourage the nurturing of a literacy society in order to develop an outstanding reading culture.
“Federal and state governments must get involved and establish language and cultural centres to coordinate linguistic development, train teachers to teach local languages and give scholarships to students studying indigenous languages.”
She also said creative writing should be promoted at all levels of the education system.
The Association distributed 40 000 books to 40 schools across the country as part of its contributes to national development.
The high-point of the conference was the commissioning and grand opening of ANA’s ultra-modern international conference and convention centre built
There was a drama performance of Abuja Nuny i(This is Abuja), written by Denja Abdullahi to show case the rich culture of Abuja and the essence of a great country called Nigeria.
In attendance at the convention were the Director-General Nigerian Copyright Commission NCC, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja amongst others.
Meanwhile, the Association of the Nigerian Authors re-elected Camillus Ukah as the President for the second term for the year 2021-2023, after the Annual Business Meeting of the Association on the 6th of November,2021 at the Mamman Vatsa Writers Village in Abuja.
PIAK
