Date: April 27, 2024 from 4:30-6:30 PM (UTC)
Panelists:
- Om’Oba Jerry Adeesewo, Artistic Director, Arojah Royal Theatre, Abuja.
- Mal. Denja Abdullahi, Former President, Association of Nigerian Authors.
- Dr. Keyna Eshika, Financial Secretary, Association of Nigerian Authors.
- Prof. Ibrahim Malumfashi, Professor of Hausa Literary History, Kaduna State University, Kaduna.
- Fatima Salihu, Poet & Principal, Minna Creative Writing Class.
- Blessing O. Omeiza, Poet & Co-ordinator, Abuja HCAF.
- BM Dzukogi, Art Administrator and Founder, Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation.
Curators: Ibraheem Uthman & Olumide Ojo Emmanuel
Discussion
Ojo Olumide:
Good afternoon. It is humbling to have you on this HIASFEST Monthly Panel Discussion 2024. I am excited that we are all here already. My co-curator, Ibraheem Uthman, is also with me. I can see Mal Denja. Good afternoon, sir. I can see our father, Sir BM Dzukogi. I can also see Prof. Ibrahim Malumfashi of Kaduna State University. I can see Blessing Ojo. I can see Fatima Salihu. You are all welcome. I am glad that we are here for this important panel discussion this afternoon. It is a delight that you have all come to grace this wonderful discussion platform. The theme is: Why the Proliferation of Literary Organization in Nigeria? Shouldn’t We All be Gathering at ANA for a Wholesome Development? Let’s have Mal. Denja, who is a former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA. Mal Denja, you have the floor.
Mal Denja Abdullahi:
Thank you very much. I will not call what is happening today proliferation. I would rather call it diversity. Everybody is diversifying. The fact that there is one organization here or there does not mean ANA is not important or does not mean ANA is a cake or ANA doesn’t even fit in with what is happening. The fact that ANA is here does not mean any other literary organization should not exist, because every organization has its own objectives, goals, and purposes, driving it. So, I will say the proliferation, if you put it in quotes, is good. It’s good for literature. It’s something we should encourage because as the Yoruba says, all of us cannot sleep with our heads facing one side of the bed. But what I don’t welcome is the idea of one association putting down the other, it is not necessary, really unnecessary, we should collaborate as partners. As ANA president, I’ve partnered with a lot of associations in order to achieve some objectives of ANA. That is the way to be seen. But one thing I see today in some associations or a little association is that they don’t have to partner with others. Thank you.
Ojo Olumide:
I think it is more of diversity. Yes. You also mentioned that organizations exist for different purposes and each of these associations or groups got their idea of the literary organization from ANA. Thank you very much, sir. Let me move to Mr. Jerry, the Creative Director of Arojah Royal Theatre. We have been talking about the proliferation of literary platforms across Nigeria. And the first point of discussion is, do you agree that there is a proliferation? Or is the word proliferation right or not? You have a platform that is over 10 years old, I guess. So, do you think your platform is also part of this proliferation?
Mr. Jerry:
Okay, thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for this great opportunity. Proliferation, let me start from the last word, whether I agree that my platform is also one of these proliferations of art organizations. It will be a capital no. Some three, four, five years ago, those who are campaigning against what we have now, like the explosion of literary engagements in Nigeria, rather than calling it a proliferation, I will call it an explosion. Now, what will be proliferation for me, for instance, is to have the Association of Nigerian Authors, Writers Association of Nigeria, or Association of Nigerian Writers. That is a duplication that will be tantamount to proliferation. But the fact that you have an Arojah, you have the Hill-Top, you have the Northern Writers Forum, and all the other contemporary art platforms with their different target audience and philosophies, to me, will not be a proliferation but an explosion. It is a welcome idea, which I will call an explosion or expansion of literary development agencies in Nigeria. As you would know, Arojah Royal Theatre actually is registered as a limited liability company for performing art purposes. And of course, we can’t take literature away because we write plays, and we stage other people’s plays.
Some Associations have different philosophies and projects they are pursuing as to what the Association of Nigerian Authors represents, which is supposed to be an umbrella body for writers, for Nigerian writers, at home and abroad. But the fact that we have literary organizations in Lagos, Abuja, and Minna, all over the place, should not mean proliferation. However, there should be a way for all of these literary organizations to be able to work together under the umbrella, permit me to say, maybe of ANA. For instance, ANA should be a kind of umbrella for all of these organizations.
Ojo Olumide:
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Jerry. We moved from diversification to explosion. Let’s talk to Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi. Our first panelists think it is not a proliferation, but diversification, explosion, or expansion. You are with HIBAF, Hausa International Book and Arts Festival, which is also a platform of Open Arts Development Initiatives; a platform that has been helping and building literature, especially in Northern Nigeria. Do you think, first, there is a proliferation with your platform or the platform that you represent? Do you think ANA would have been inclusive enough to accommodate these diversities in comparison to what is happening at HIBAF? For instance, this is the Hausa Book Art Festival, and I don’t think ANA will have that chance for other languages to be included. So how can ANA be able to provide this inclusivity for other languages, for other writers who write in other languages, especially Hausa, and then do you think there is a proliferation in the first place?
Are you here, Prof? Okay, let me talk to Ojo Blessing. As someone working with children or teenagers, do you think your mentees would stand any chance of succeeding if there weren’t proliferations? Do you think your mentees will stand a chance to succeed just the way they are doing now if there is no expansion or explosion or diversity of these platforms in the words of our panelists?
Ojo Blessing:
Okay, thank you. Times are changing. No doubt, ANA has done so well so far. I have seen a certain level of support from Sir Denja Abdullahi during his time as president. That was in 2017. There’s a need for these bodies and more to come up to help these young ones grow. And at times, as times are changing, people respond to different things in different ways. Young people particularly have different ambitions, which sadly, ANA has not been able to cater for. It’s not so recent that they included the spoken word poetry, which is a main focus of these young ones, especially the voiceless. Most of these young ones came into the literature society through stage poetry and stage performance. It’s recently, ANA incorporated this into their prizes, especially during ANA Conventions. I can count about 78 new art organizations or platforms springing up all over the country. You go to Lagos and Minna, and you find them there. They’re also in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe, Maiduguri, Sokoto. Wherever you go, you find small, small platforms now coming out with their own ideas of how to move the arts and the art formations forward in the country. I think for me, it is a very positive development. ANA cannot be a consolidator of everything or everybody at the same time. It’s not even possible. When you look at what is happening now, you find that some are more or less looking at their own contributions from their own local languages, just like you gave the example of the Hausa International Books and Arts Festival, but then if ANA should now come into it and say, okay, now everybody should be part and parcel of this particular phenomenon, I don’t think ANA would be able to handle that. So for me, ANA should just be what it is, a national body, from every part of the country.
But what is happening right now when I wake up every day and I see these platforms coming up from every part of the country, I feel something new is coming for the country. And I think it’s also good for the development of the arts and the art formations in the country. For instance, some of us have never been to Maiduguri, but now you find people rushing to Maiduguri, rushing to Yobe, rushing to Sokoto. Minna is now a haven for literal development. Coming to Kaduna, Kabafest, HIBAF, Sokoto, everywhere you move you find people now talking to themselves. It is part and parcel of development and I think we should be able to harness it and then see how we can be able to make it move from where we are now to a larger portion. When you go to the UK and America, you find that they have their national association, but then so many other literary and art formations are moving within the same space. So what we should now ask for is for ANA to move out of its cocoon. Let ANA ask the government and other organizations to fund art as they should.
Ojo Olumide:
Okay, I can see three hands raised already. I have Mr. Jerry, Mal Denja and Sir BM Dzukogi. So let’s go with Mr. Jerry and then to Mal Denja.
Mr. Jerry:
Thank you so much. For ANA to be the clearinghouse, as should be expected, It means then that there must be affiliation from all of these other organizations. And I don’t mean affiliation with the intention to subdue any of those other organizations. The truth of the matter is that ANA cannot do it alone. That’s why I said, if you asked me this question five years ago, the kind of fire in my blood, I would say it is a proliferation. The portion we are seeing now is very, very necessary. That’s why I talked about the philosophy. Some of them are local. We have in Sokoto, we have in Yobe, and Abakaliki as you have highlighted. But ANA still has a role to play, every other organization we are talking about now should be complementary to ANA and not in competition with ANA. So I agree with you that ANA still has that role to play to go and look for funds and say, Arojah, what programs are you having? This is 2 million Naira grant for your project in 2025, HIBAF takes this, Hill-Top here is a grant… Thank you.
Ojo Olumide:
Let’s have Mal Denja.
Mal Denja:
Well, we are all saying the same thing in a way, in the sense that we are talking about how we can partner and collaborate for the development of Nigerian literature. Jerry has said a lot about the necessity for ANA to be at the frontline. Yes, if it is said that ANA should be at the frontline of promoting literary activities, it’s not giving any untrue favor to ANA. It has been earned already. The records are there. ANA has been there for years. ANA has nurtured a lot of writers, ANA has done a lot of things to promote Nigerian literature. ANA has been there. And if what it should continue to do is to still stay at the frontline without denigrating other institutions that are rising. It is very wrong for people to think that ANA does not want other institutions to progress. It is not like that. ANA is a house of inclusivity. Everybody is welcome. Whatever is your tendency, you will be helped literally. Now, narrowing down to the issue of funds. If we have to argue for the National Endowment Fund for the Arts today, which I know will do a lot in terms of solving the financial problem facing literary associations in Nigeria. If we have to argue for that, ANA has to be on the frontline of this structure because the people we are talking to, those governments we are talking to, the first thing that will come to their mind is ANA. They know it has been there. So if ANA provides leadership, of course, and also gets expertise from others who have developed beautiful expertise in other areas of literary endeavor, who have their own organizations. You bring them in, you collaborate, you do partnerships, and you fight with one voice, there will be results. ANA is not the only artistic or literary organization that is big, there is SONTA, Nigeria Academy of Letters, which is within the platform of literature and also has access to this mass. So, we have to also collaborate with those groups to get the hearing of the government. But what I’ve seen that has been happening is that people and associations work in circles. When people will form associations and shut you out and shut others out. When you do all that, you are not advancing the literature in a holistic way, the way we should be advancing it.
Ojo Olumide:
Thank you very much, sir. I want to bring in Mal. BM Dzukogi, but I see that in conversations so far we’ve left the ladies out. Forgive me, sir. I want to allow Dr. Eshika, then we’ll be back to Sir BM Dzukogi. Dr. Keyna Eshika, are you there? Let’s have Fatima while we wait for Dr Keyna.
Fatima Salihu:
Good evening distinguished panelists. I’m so happy to be a part of this very, very important conversation at this time. I just wanted to buttress the points of other panelists and then add one or two of what I feel is the way forward. On the proliferation of the literary bodies in Nigeria. To me, I feel like it’s tantamount to saying, why don’t we all gather at the University of Ibadan to get a degree or create sub-branches of UI in other states instead of getting it from private universities or state universities? That is retrogression! What should be the problem is, how do we sanction the quality of such an organization? That is what I want to talk about. How do we make sure they are churning out quality products? We can’t have a bunch of organizations and then they are not churning out quality.
We knew what ANA was when it was reigning. We knew where they went to. We knew the vibrations and everything that people felt when ANA did something. So why not let these people now come together so they can define standards? Thank you very much.
Ojo Olumide:
Okay, Sir BM, let’s have you, sir.
BM Dzukogi:
All right. Thank you. Such an interesting conversation going on. My view is simple. Almost all of us who are here are ANA members. There is no doubt about that. But I think at a point, ANA became overwhelmed. Indeed, it is overwhelming. Even though it has branches in various states, the explosion in writing itself, does not actually exclude ANA’s influence. The young ones, we must accept what Blessing said, the young ones had little stake in ANA. What Denja is saying is just recent, it’s not more than 10 years. And if that is even happening in ANA, it’s because ANA Niger was so aggressive about teenagers and aggressive about young people, which most states, you know, had to adopt. So young people had no stake in ANA because ANA was largely concentrating on the adults.
Secondly, the issue of innovativeness, somebody mentioned it, you know, it’s quite important, because if ANA continues to do the traditional things, these young people who are restless, excited, who are not always on the center stage of ANA those days, from 20 years ago (I don’t know if they do now), cannot have any trust in the organization. If you take a simple observation now, a common natural observation, about writers in Nigeria, you will discover that the brilliant young ones, who are in their 30s, and 40, very popular ones, have little to do with ANA, even at the moment. They might have once stepped into ANA activities, but they have little to do with ANA today. Very little, I must say. Let alone the teen ones. The teen ones who are making names now like the Pacella, Zakiyyah, Abdulraza, Lilo, Yahuza, Sa’ada, Testimony, Saheed, Mahmoodah, and hundreds of them across HCAF branches, have nothing to do with ANA. Even Zaynab Bobi, Abu Bakr Saddiq, and co have nothing to do with ANA. So the explosion in writing and art in Nigeria, truly ANA cannot accommodate the new age of writing in the country. There is a need for new platforms to come up. Even those of us who are old members of ANA, there are certain specific interests you want to cover that may not be accommodated in ANA. For example, when Hill-Top started publishing Teenagers, ANA Niger wasn’t publishing Teenagers. The anthologies we have for teenagers in Niger are the ones done by Hill Top in 1997, 2013. The one done in 2008 for teenagers during the Northern Nigeria Writers Summit and the one done by Remi Raji Exco were all initiated by us in Niger. Children are boiling souls; they need to realize themselves fast. It is a speedy world that must be done with precision. In ANA, you can’t get that kind of speed at the moment. So the overwhelming presence of writers and artists in Nigeria, due to ANA’s past activities, has made ANA also one that cannot accommodate everybody at the same time. That’s why the issue of funding should now be ANA’s sole responsibility, not funding per se, that it should sponsor HIBAF, sponsor Kabafest, HIBAF, sponsor Hilltop, No. That’s not the one we are talking about. Seeking for endowment fund for writers should be the primary activity of ANA now in the 21st century. They can publish their journals or ANA reviews and the rest of them. Do big-time conferences which every other person should come to.
But organizing spoken word and the rest of them, shouldn’t be ANA again, we have enough of them from other literary organizations. Even Bash Amuneni just started his own too. You understand? So the issue now should be of structure, policy, and world literary conferences for ANA. Because of the little, little things that the state branches and ANA were doing those days, you now have platforms that are doing them, and even doing them better. HIBAF invited Zakiyyah to Kano. And Fati was not invited. So I said, Fati, please come and join Zakiyyah in Kano. The mother said she would not allow Zakiyyah to go to Kano because she’s a girl of 19 years. But Zakiyyah went to her and said, Umma, I want to go to Hibaf. So we had to bring Fati, who is older to go to Kano with her. Now, why is she going to Hibaf? Why is she so excited about Hibaf? Because there is quality to pick from that place. Zakiyyah was glowingly on stage like many young ones were. Who will give them space in ANA to speak? So this is the issue. ANA cannot do Hiba, cannot do Kabafest, cannot do Hiasfest, cannot do Hilltop, cannot do… We are already doing some of these things ‘for ANA’. At HIASFEST, the teenagers are the Guest Speakers delivering speeches in front of the Governors, Emirs, fathers, and mothers with such confidence that even the adults do not have. So ANA should define a new role for herself, which is about policies and institutional funding, for these organizations to access.
The topic of our discussion has about three things that we should focus on. One is development. Two, gathering on one spot, which has been squashed. Everybody says the proliferation is correct. Proliferation is not a bad thing. It is a development demand, for things will happen on time. The issue of quality that Fati raised is none of ANA’s business. It’s not ANA’s business. ANA’s activities should produce quality, and let others copy from. But it is not ANA’s business for Open Art to organize her programs correctly, not at all. It’s not ANA business for Hill-Top to do her programs correctly. Anybody who is doing his program or any group who is doing its program correctly will find an audience. Like I just mentioned, people want to go to Kabafest, people want to go to Hibaf, people want to go to what you call, the Lagos International Book Fair, Lagos Poetry Festival, people want to go to other things. It’s because of the quality they see in those things. Everybody wants to go to Ibedi International Residency, you know, and then put in their bio that they are fellows of Ibedi and the rest of them. It is because of the quality. ANA can do anything it wants to.
Even in terms of the text being produced, what can ANA do? In the market, everybody produces his own kind of bread. You are the one who wants to pick which bread you want to eat. Anybody who doesn’t write quality things is his business. Perhaps, there should be a a focus on younger ones by ANA or ANA members who are older, because virtually now they hardly look at what the young people are writing in Nigeria. The young ones are taking flights abroad and there, they are being recognized. So why are older writers in Nigeria not focusing on the good works that the younger ones are producing in Nigeria? The quality is on products’ tastes. It’s like you are asking somebody to go to the market and they say, why are you producing cement? Why is Dangote producing cement? Why is Boa producing cement? Sokoto cement, Turkey cement. Everybody goes to pick and everybody will say, okay, this is better than the rest of them. So briefly, my own, ANA should redefine her roles. There are activities that she shouldn’t even do at all because these activities are being taken care of by these new platforms that we say are proliferating across Nigeria, which is correct and which is taking the literary development or art development to towns and cities faster than ANA can do, which is also good for development. These proliferating entities are more to the grassroots than ANA, today. Take a look at the multitudes of young writers sitting at HIBAF, Kabafest, and HIASFEST, they aren’t ANA members nah. Multiplicity or proliferation is a behavioral pattern of development. Once there is balkanization of something, access is made easy.
So for me, the proliferation is correct. If ANA does not act like the real mother that Prof and others talked about, then you will soon see a new organization: that is Contemporary Literary Arts Organization of Nigeria, you will soon see it. That will also take a part of ANA away because that organization will begin to talk about policies in art and funding in art. But if ANA is doing that, there will be no need for that one again. Thank you.
Ojo Olumide:
Thank you very much. I still want to see if we can talk to Dr. Keyna. Dr. Keyna, are you around?
Dr Keyna:
Yeah, I think both the explosion and proliferation of literary organizations are really going on, globally. The question is, who are the founding fathers of the Association of Nigerian Authors? What are the objectives? Are we following the laid down objectives, or have we deviated in any form? These are why all this proliferation. It’s not that this proliferation, these organizations cannot come under one umbrella of ANA. Does ANA have an attractive and robust incentive that can accommodate all these other organizations that are springing up? That is the question that we are all asking. And these developmental, organizations that are springing up, parochial, or do they have economic incentives or selfish interests? That’s the question. The body of writers, the Association of Nigerian Authors, which has been established with good minds and good intentions, has been nurtured well. Has there been good leadership to be able to keep people? Are these new organizations out of greed, religious or ethnic bias, or what? That’s what we should be addressing. Also, all these groups can function in diversity if ANA is really united. I think what we should be talking about is unity in diversity, just like in the whole country. Unity in diversity. Other associations can spring up because ANA is the mother of all these associations. But what has ANA laid down to attract them? Young writers will ask you what is going to be my benefit of joining this association. So if I can’t get it in ANA, let me go elsewhere to get it. So ANA should go back to the drawing board and harmonize and really interface with the government to have a feel of government. The proliferation can only be healthy when it has good intentions. I think proliferation is not a bad word to be used in all these things that are happening. That is my own humble submission. ANA should get herself straightened to gain young writers’ attention.
So the best thing is for us to get things sprinting up, to lay our cards on the table, and to make sure that there’s a juicy, attractive, and robust, developmental-field organization so that people will be proud to be associated with ANA. Thank you very much.
Ojo Olumide:
Thank you very much. But before I come back to our panelists, I want Africa to quickly take one minute and make his contribution.
Mr. Oko:
Okay, anyway, since I have one minute, let me see how I can manage the one minute. First, I think I have enjoyed the conversation so much. A lot of points have been made and they are very fundamental. I’ll be speaking as someone who has enjoyed the progressiveness of ANA, most especially from the state chapter under Dagga Tolar. We met big writers and got inspired. But take a turn from that I’ve also experienced an ANA that felt like for every independent event you’re doing, it’s a form of confrontation or you’re competing with ANA.
So it has now got to the point where if you’re organizing your own event, ANA, whether at the State level, I wouldn’t be speaking much of the national, even though I’ve not had very good experience with the national also. But it seems like ANA is trying to destroy something you’re doing. If ANA cannot support you, maybe it should allow you to do what you want to do. It has now gotten to the point where ANA has not only shifted from its role as a mother body but has also become the kind of mother that doesn’t want the child to grow bigger because of the fear that the child might dominate. So that has been a very big problem and for lots of young people of my age, it must not have been easy for them to move on with the proliferation, and start their own organizations where they wouldn’t feel threatened. That is one.
Then secondly, Ojo Omeiza, when he spoke about the generational something, which I’m sure lots of us here have actually seen me in my element, always defending the fourth generation. I think the major problem in ANA, for most of us the young people, is the fact that we feel like the young people, are not represented in ANA.
You go to ANA this year, ANA is organizing an event, and you go next year, ANA is still following the same structure where they probably bring an older person to come and speak. And you as younger guys, you’re just there watching. You’re not a part of this thing. And that was enough reason for most of us to try to look for places where we are represented. Then just as a form of sum up.
What Dr. Chizoba said is very instrumental. ANA has been carrying out activities, singular activities. ANA has more or less become like the Nigerian government. It doesn’t change. Bureaucracy upon bureaucracy. Nothing is changing. Nothing is working. The question now is, what new projects can ANA come up with that will encourage both young and old, like creating that inter-generational dialogue? That point where I as a young person in my early 30s can meet an ANA person in his 60s and in his 70s. And we can speak as writers, as intellectuals without any fear. Do we have that kind of space in ANA? Can we have an ANA where a young person who wants to research can say, okay, look, I can go to the ANA library and nobody will come and start asking me what are you doing here? Can I comfortably go to an ANA resource center because I am researching to produce a book?
So these are the valid questions that we need to ask because in the end, organizing events, and having organization, don’t automatically last forever. It’s ruined by temporality. It is important for ANA to start creating avenues where we can start seeing practical and tangible results like research centers, and all of that. Importantly, as a way of conclusion, I think the most important thing is, that ANA should try to have a committee or something, where young people are heavily invested in and committed. If ANA is organizing a conference, for instance, what is the stake of young people? Instead of just having 100 people in a room, where one person is talking and other people are walking up and down. Let’s create panels for young people to talk about contemporary literature, their writings, and their journeys. This is the kind of activity that will make young people feel they belong to ANA and feel like they have a stake. So I will say that ANA has been trying, but it’s time that ANA began to listen to other people, most especially younger people, and see how we can synergize and come up with more ideas.
Ojo Olumide:
Thank you very much. I can see Prof raising his hand.
BM Dzukogi:
If I may just say one thing, please. What Okwo said about young people not being invited to even give a keynote speech, Sadiq just mentioned it about four days ago. He said, ANA will be inviting old people, all the time. So Okwo must be right. These young people are thinking this way and conversing behind the scenes. ANA should simply just change. There is no argument here because these new-generation writers are already talking to the world through other channels, already.
Prof Ibrahim Malumfashi:
Please, I don’t want this panel to degenerate into something else. We are not putting ANA on a table to try and dissect its major or various challenges that probably we’ve been holding for years. ANA, just like I’ve been saying, is always going to be around. And for us here, it is right to find a leverage; a way that we’ll be able to say that, okay this is what ANA is doing and this is what we expect ANA to be doing in the next 10 or 20 years. And then these platforms that are now springing up everywhere in the country, there is nothing anybody can do about that. There is nothing the government can do about them. There is nothing ANA can do about them because they are coming out of their chairs.
They have to come out and talk to themselves, talk to the larger society. I have been to many of these youngsters, I was in Katsina, I was in Sokoto, of course, I’m here in Kaduna. When you are talking to them you find out they are not even talking about ANA, they are not talking about government, they are not talking about the elder people, they are talking about how they can be able to hold on to this popular giant powerbomb we call art and the literary development and see how they can be able to create a lead way to their goals.
This is their mindset. They don’t give a damn about what we are doing. They don’t bother about what the elders are doing. They are only after themselves and how they can be able to make a name out of this system. Most of them are between 25 and 30. So it’s not a matter of saying bring them into ANA, give them a platform, let them talk to the elders, and then everything will be alright. It won’t.
So what I’m just probably thinking is let’s find leverage somewhere. These organizations are so many now. When you go to every state, you’ll find about five to 10 in every state. Whereas you have only one ANA branch in this state. And I’m sure those who are in this state, like the ANA leaders, are not even aware of what these other young ones are doing. They are not here to fight. They are not here to challenge. They are not here to threaten, they are not here to make ANA look great. No, they are just doing their thing. For us to say, Okay, let’s see how we can bring everybody under one umbrella, it’s not possible.
Let us discuss the proliferation. Is it negative or positive? If it is negative, how can we be able to now re-assess them and make them become positive? Can we be able to erase them? I say no, we can’t. Will ANA be able to have everybody under the same umbrella? Can ANA organize one hundred events a year? I don’t think it’s possible. How can we now say everybody should come under one particular platform, and then start doing something afresh? It’s not going to be possible.
Probably, what we will give to ANA is that ANA should be our Mother and Father while the Ministry or Government be the grandfather. Why can’t ANA make a call to the Minister, let them sit down, and then take a holistic look at whatever is happening in the literary industry?
Just recently I have had the privilege of being part of one particular project in Portugal. The Ministry for Art and Creativity, they have an office that is after translating each Portuguese book. If you feel your book is worth translating, you bring it to the office, they’ll look at it and then the government will now sponsor it to be translated and published worldwide.
Three participants to be published in Nigeria, Niger, and Ghana. The Hausa, and then one other language in Niger, and then in Ghana. In their local languages. They paid for it. The author is just there doing his thing and the government is taking care of what all the expenses, all the publicity, all that is there to do.
This is what the government is doing. This is what the ministry is doing. For the local writers, local authors, without even the authors knowing what they are doing. This is what ANA should be seeking for writers in Nigeria. ANA should be able to put people together to advocate for this from the Nigerian Government, BM is there, I am here, Ojo is there, Doctor Kerna is there, and many others, we can form a forum where we can be able to sit down and then we’ll handle this together. Forget about differences. Forget about what we have done in the past. Forget about what is happening now, let us do something that will now impact more on all of us.
ANA will never fail, because we are all products of ANA, even the young ones, because they are our children. If we benefited from ANA, then also they also benefited from ANA. I always tell my son, Sada, whether you like it or not, you’re part and parcel of ANA. Because he benefited from me. I’m sure Sadiq will see that. Because he is part and parcel of ANA. If his father was not there, Sadiq, where would he be?
Let’s look at it from a better perspective, I’m sure if we can bring all these platforms together, have one meeting, and then we now present a memo to the Ministry, something will be done. But if we are all busy doing our own things at the same time, the center will not be effective.
So please, if this panel can be able to at least proffer solutions, let’s see how we can be able to do that. In the next five years, where do we expect the arts and literary organizations in this country to be? Where do we expect ANA to be? Where do we expect the Ministry to perform? What do you expect from the government? All these kinds of things, I think, are the best way to go about this thing. Thank you very much.
Mal Denja:
Let me come in, please. In fact, there is something you say that is very important. The ANA President, I think contacted the Ministry and they were sort of rejected. That’s what he said, that the Ministry is not too much into literature. Art organizations in Nigeria should come together and present a common front through ANA to the Ministry. I think that time they will have some sense to listen to us.
I’ve never seen any encouragement from the Nigerian national government, The Nigerian national government’s attitude towards literature, is poor. Even others that have blossomed in film, only came into it when they saw the beauty in it and how it was flourishing. Nollywood got to that height through the hard work of people who worked in that area for years with their money, their enterprise, and their capacity. So also other areas, music too.
Literature too has survived for years because of people’s capacity and people’s interest and people’s expertise. Sometimes even foreign agencies, Jerry is here. Jerry Adesewo has been promoted more by foreign agencies in Abuja than by the Nigerian government. And that is the reality on the ground.
Let me announce to you that the thinking in government today about creative economy is without looking at the side of literature. That is the thinking. And that is why when you wrote to the Ministry, they said they are not for you. If you want to overcome that, you have really to advocate in order to bring to the face of the government, why they should support literature. Literature is the fountain of other creativity. We have to situate literature back into the creative economy.
The endowment is already in their law, that they must establish a government fund for the art. If that is done, that endowment fund is just like TetFund. Without it, our tertiary institutions would be glorified secondary schools. So if the endowment comes from the front where dollars, a huge sum of money will be allocated to it, where HIASFEST can write and get funding, ANA can write, any other associations, HIBAF, whatever it is, you write your proposal, and if your proposal is making a lot of sense, they give you funding.
If we don’t get to that level in this country, we will continue to complain about the lack of funds for organizations. But finally, there’s an area which is good, which I want to just point out, which Dzukogi mentioned earlier. If an organization is just like a country, if a country exists for 20, 30, or 40 years, you get to a point where you have to do policy redirection. Yes, you have to rethink the organization. Then you take up some fundamentals that you need to rethink in order to continue as being fathers of the other people. And that is where ANA is now. ANA has a kind of policy rethink. And of course, we shouldn’t criticize, like Professor Malumfashi said, because whatever anybody says, ANA has achieved tremendously for Nigeria. And today, ANA has a writers’ village. Which I think is a platform where you can say okay, we have a house now o! All of you come inside. Come into the house, we’ll build it together. Let us use it to further the literature.
I want to actually suggest, sir, Prof., that there is a conclusion here that we should emphasize. The Financial Secretary of ANA is here with us. Dr Keyna. She should go back to the executive that a larger conference of literary arts organizations in Nigeria is convened by them with the sole purpose of making a common front that would be presented to the Ministry.
Ojo Olumide:
A final word from each of the panelists: I’ll start with Mal. Denja, and then I’ll take Mr. Jerry. I’ll take Prof Malumfashi, I will take Sir BM and then I will allow Dr Ismail Bala to end today’s discussion.
Mal Denja:
My major final words are partnership, partnership, partnership, collaboration. Let us work together. Don’t say Denja doesn’t have anything to do with Hausa, then you will not invite me to HIBAF. Yes, Denja has done a lot in Hausa literature. I can say it. Prof Malumfashi there, I have referred students to you who are working on Mai Rogo. Then Dzukogi, don’t say because Denja is this, I’m not going to go to HIASFEST. Let’s come together. That’s my final words.
Mr. Jerry:
I can see that we are on the path probably towards where we should be. So my last word will be for Madam Chizoba, so that our message is delivered to ANA and to encourage ANA to ensure that that meeting is convened. And then, of course, we can begin to tap the pad forward. Like Mal. Denja said, enough of looking, I think Prof. Malumfashi also mentioned that enough of looking backward, as good as our past is, the present and the future are more important. So let’s get this done and see where we get from there. Thank you.
Prof Ibrahim Malumfashi:
Let’s talk, let’s talk, and let’s talk, more action, more action. So I would love to see us in Abuja, penning down a very nice proposal that will be able to help all Nigerian artists and literary organizations. Thank you.
Bm Dzukogi:
I’m just excited that there’s a headway for all of us through this HIASFEST panel discussion we mooted like a joke. Thank you for coming around, all of you.
Dr. Ismail:
Yes. Well, I have very little to say, I just want to say Hello to Fatima Salihu, and all I wanted to say has already been said. I want one of my associations that is not here officially to be considered, Northern Nigeria Writers Summit in subsequent editions of this panel discussion. I think the Chairman would like to take part in whatever is going to be discussed and I will talk to him. Thank you.
Ojo Olumide:
All right. Thank you for coming. Thank you everyone. And be blessed.
