ANA convention: Unforgettable literary experience
Literature

ANA convention: Unforgettable literary experience



In pursuance of its objective of promoting Nigerian literature through solidarity and collaboration among writers, the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, has been holding Annual International Conference since it was established on June 27, 1981. This year?s edition was held last weekend (Friday 7th to Sunday 10th) in Akure, Ondo State capital.
Like the 2010 edition, which also took place in the sunshine state, this could be described as a very successful convention. The managerial skill of the seven-man Local Organizing Committee, led by the Chairman of Ondo State Chapter of ANA, Dr. Sola Owonibi, was quite evident. Despite the large turnout of delegates from the various state chapters and dignitaries from within and outside the country, the process of registration wasn?t chaotic as it had always been in the past. Everyone was promptly attended to on arrival at Owena Motels and by 9 am almost everybody had checked into his or her hotel and got set for the welcome cocktail held at Babafunke Ajasin Auditorium.
Highlight of the three-day event, included lecture, drama performances, Annual General Meeting, election of new executive council and award night.
The event began with a grand opening ceremony on Friday at the Babafunke Ajasin Auditorium, featuring lecture by the keynote speaker and a symposium. In his welcome address, ANA President, Professor Remi Raji, expressed appreciation to Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, for hosting the convention twice in his eight-year tenure, and enumerated some of the achievements of ANA executive council.
According to the president, the exco has, in the last two years, been able to make ANA a body to be reckoned with internationally, as it now has a branch in Ghana. He said the state chapters had been strengthened through the introduction of regular meetings between the national exco and the state chapter chairmen and secretaries.
Other achievements recorded, according to him, were the ANA/Yusuf Ali Reading Campaign sponsored by Barrister Yususf Ali (SAN), the association?s partnership with YSGHubs, a new indigenous e-commerce and mobile applications development company based in Lagos, the successful reclaiming of ANA land in Abuja from encroachers, introduction of Nigerian Writers? Series, sponsored by the governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu?azu Babangida Aliyu.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who was represented by his Execiutive Secretary National Cultural Orientation agency, Mr. Backlays Oyakoroma, expressed gratitude to ANA for choosing Ondo State as the host of this year?s convention and promised to ensure the comfort and security of the delegates.
After the various speeches, the Keynote Speaker, Prof. Toyin Falola, delivered his lecture titled ?Literary Imaginations and Nation Building in Nigeria Since 1914?. Falola, who is a Professor of History at the University of Texas, Austin, USA, did prove himself as a renowned historian and social critic by his indepth analysis of the Nigerian situation and the role of Nigerian writers in the scheme of things.
He began by noting that Nigeria was an imagination and invention of those for whom nation-building and development were hardly a priority. ?The amalgamation of 1914 was not a sincere attempt to create a modern nation-state founded on nationalism, but the invention of a convenient state, a space that would be easier to manage with interregional monetary flows and resources to run administration in different parts of the country, fund security agencies, and remit the rest as profit to the United Kingdom,? he said.
He discussed the intellectual vanguards and the project of modernization in the early colonial period, creativity and politics in the late colonial period and the post-colonial modernity in relation to the role of Nigerian writers in nation building. He stressed that ?We cannot put all the blame on the politicians and the military. Intellectuals who preach one thing and do another must take responsibility. Words and actions do not always get married; and when they do, divorce should be expected, just as a socialist can turn a socialite.?
According to him, there is no deficiency of, or limitation to the literary imagination, and the connection between that imagination and political and social realities is phenomenal. However, ?we have to connect text and imagination with policies and politics. Literary imagination should continue to portray our political attitudes, our feelings, our pent-up emotions, our quest for order and justice, and our desire for social movements to produce a revolutionary change?.
He concluded the lecture with a piece of advice to Nigerian writers: ?As a family of authors, we must restore the credibility of friendship, sorority and fraternity, the gains in promoting values of democracy and social justice irrespective of one?s religion, gender and ethnicity. Our mass consciousness must continue to be portrayed in reality and imagination, in the hope that, at a time in the future, our reality will be much closer to our dreams and our daily conditions of existence will surpass our imagination.?
After a short break, participants reconvened in the hall for a symposium, which lasted from 1.30 pm to about 8 pm. The symposium featured several papers including, ?The Implication of Drama and Literary Imagination in Youth and Leadership Development: Post-Centinary Nigeria? by Ofonime Inyang, Department of Drama and Film Studies Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa; ?Between Imaginative Literature, Social Responsibility and National Development: Nigerian Writers on a Rat-Race? by Ngozi Chuma Udeh, Department of English, Anambra State University; ?ANA Teen Authorship Scheme as a Vehicle for Literary Renaissance? by Camillus Ukah, Editor-In-Chief, Liu House of Excellence, Owerri.
The day was rounded off with a drama performance at Adegbemile Hall, Ondo State Cultural Centre. The drama featured Onileagbon Femi Amos? I Killed Love. The play is the story of jealous Marie who thinks everyone and everything conspire to steal Ife, her love, from her.
The fantasy of a conspiracy reaches a climax when she concludes that her handsome love?s lateness in getting home on this occasion is the result of a tango with another woman. To her, the rain and all the elements are in on the conspiracy. Firm in her conviction, Marie decides to kill Ife. This decision is helped by Ife?s seeming inability to explain how it took him forty minutes to make a twenty minutes drive. When all seems to be settled and peace achieved, she stabs him to death.
The last day of the convention, Saturday, 9th, was the most hectic, as it featured the Annual General Meeting and election of a new exco. The atmosphere at the Babafunke Ajasin Auditorium was charged particularly because of the election.
The election would have been without much tension as most of the executive members were returned unopposed. But the contest for the post of General Secretary created so much rancour due the circumstances surrounding the exercise. Earlier, Malam BM Dzukogi who held the post had declared that he would not re-contest the post because of his other pressing engagements that might affect his commitment as General Secretary. However, just a day to the election he was said to have been persuaded by some members of the exco, particularly the president, to re-contest even though he wasn?t at the convention.
There was uproar between the supporters of Tanko Okoduwa, the Assistant General Secretary, who was nominated to contest for the position of General Secretary, and supporters of Dzukogi. Supporters of Okoduwa accused the president of imposing on them a candidate that was not interested in the post, saying Okoduwa should be returned unopposed. At the end, the election was held and Okoduwa won by 170 to 102 votes.
Members of the executive that were returned unopposed include Remi Raji, President; Denja Abdullahi, Vice President; Joy Esuku, Treasurer; Chinyere Obi-Obasi, Financial Secretary; Ahmed Maiwada, Legal Adviser; and Richard Ali, PRO (North).
The dinner and awards night, which took place at Geo J Hotel, was the most attended in the series of events. Governor Olusegun Mimiko was in attendance together with his entourage of commissioners, members of Ondo State House of Assembly and other government functionaries. But ANA president was conspicuously absent. The MC explained that ?he took ill soon after the election and had to be taken to his hotel room?. He was, however, represented by the vice president, Denja.
In his opening address, Denja commended Governor Mimiko for hosting the convention. Comparing him to Niger State governor, Dr. Mu?azu Aliyu Babangida, he said the two governors have been a blessing to Nigerian literature and expressed the hope that other governors would emulate them.
Responding, Governor Mimiko thanked ANA for choosing Ondo State for the convention, saying it was a great honour. He urged the association to continue with its efforts of promoting literature because, according to him, no society could rise above the ideas of its writers.
?We read your books to find what can change the society, he said. ?Yours is a thankless job. When people envisage great future you are not appreciated till the future is realized. But we appreciate you. You must continue to challenge capitalists who impoverish the poor.?
He also observed that the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing due to some foreign capitalist policies imposed by the West through the IMF. He said the only way out is education. ?We need education to change the situation. Education must be subsidized because we live in a knowledge economy. And that is what we are doing in Ondo State; we are developing new generation schools to ensure that our children get sound education which is a weapon against exploitation,? he said.
The governor announced the commissioning of a new International Conference Auditorium in Akure and the hosting of International Conference on Women Writers next year, invited ANA members to attend.
Winners of this year?s ANA literary prizes were announced at the occasion. The ANA/Prose Fiction Prize was won by Dike-Ogu Chukwumerije for his Urichendere; the ANA/Poetry Prize went to Amu Nnadi Chijioke for his Through the Window of a Sand Castle; Jude Idada won the ANA/Drama Prize for his Oduduwa King of the Edos, while ANA/Esiaba Irobi Prize for Playwriting went to Isaac A. Ogezi for his Under a Darkling Sky.
According to one of the judges, who announced the winners, Prof. Emmanuel Sule Egya, there was no competition for ANA/Chevron Prose Prize on Environmental Issues and ANA/NECO Prize for Short Stories this year.
In the Children category of the prize, two winners emerged. Patience Ezinwoke won the ANA/Lantern Prize for Children with her Lost Beach, while Motunrayo Olajubu won the ANA/Mazariya Teen Author Prize, poetry, with his The Hidden Thrugh.
The judge for the children?s category, Mr. John Asiedu Sarpong, said ANA Teen Author Prize Prose was not contested for this year.
There were also merit awards to individuals who have supported ANA and ensured its growth over the years. The recipients include, Mabel Segun, Labo Yari, TM Aluko, Kole Omotoso (as Trustee of ANA), Yusuf Ali (as Grand Patron of ANA), Abubakar Gimba, Wale Okediran and Odia Ofeimun.
The occasion came to a close with a vote of thanks by Okediran, former president of ANA.





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