ANA intensifies effort on mamman vatsa writers’ village

• Theme of 2019 Convention Unveiled, Host To Be Named Soon
• Database Project, Documentation Of Membership Ends March 30
• Warns Politicians Not To Heat Up Polity

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has expressed its displeasure at the desperation that has settled into the country’s political space. The body also lamented the situation where those angling for political power have resorted to discrediting the process even before it began and employing all sorts of self-help methods; all geared towards opportunistic ends.

On state of the nation, it asked, “where will all these leave the people of Nigeria?” The association said, “careless and inciting utterances and disorderly conduct by political players in the country constitute a threat to the peace and harmony in our nation at a time like this.”

Rising from its fourth National Executive Council meeting held in Mpape, Abuja, on Saturday, January 26, 2019, the association’s leadership, after rigorous debates on a variety of issues affecting the association and the nation, came out with a communiqué, which was signed by its National President, Mallam Denja Abdullahi, and General Secretary, Dr. Ofonime Inyang.

The association called on concerned agencies and the government to work towards curbing this ugly development by ensuring strict adherence to due process, rule of law and the constitution of this country. “Politicians are advised to go about their campaigns and electioneering in ways that will not release further heat on the polity and allow the will of the people as will be expressed at the polls to prevail,” it noted.

The association sent an appeal to “politicians and power players in and out of government to allow us have a country after the elections.”The communiqué said the current leadership of the association “is committed to its inaugural objectives of building on the values of our founding fathers in upholding and maintaining its status as the foremost and authentic umbrella body of all creative writers and literary persons in the country, and therefore, will continue to pursue programmes and initiatives that will unify and build the capacity of writers and strengthen the bonds that has sustained the nation as a whole.”

It said an online database project and documentation of the membership of the association towards the development of a resource base to enhance the implementation of the vision and objectives of the Strategic Development Plan will be pursued to a viable conclusion, and therefore, all chapters and members are requested to immediately forward the membership forms and fill the online registration forms on the ANA webpage and submit same to the national secretariat on or before March 30, 2019.”

The statement noted, “failure to do so would automatically lead to the de-registration of defaulting chapters and exclusion from benefiting from subsequent national projects and initiatives.”The association noted that the Yusuf Ali Literary Campaign initiative this year is open to chapters with innovative literary programmes and projects involving educational institutions in the host states and with the collaboration of key stakeholders in the field. Such chapters must also have complied with the membership database documentation project.

That the 38th International Convention of the association has been slated for October 31 to November 3, 2019 with the theme, Literature, Nationalism and the Poetics of National Integration. The hosting state will be announced later.

It also said in the communiqué:
• That the ongoing development of the ANA’s Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village in Mpape, Abuja is intensifying with a view to commissioning some aspects of the project later in the year. The national executive, therefore, enjoined the developer and all persons connected to the project to keep to the terms of the existing memorandum and promise to deliver on target.
• That chapters should continue to envision and implement programmes and projects that will ensure the creation of a robust environment for the realization of the creative dreams of writers and members in their chapters. Such projects and programmes should be adequately reported to the National Secretariat for record purposes.
• That Nigerian writers should continue to engage their writings as tools of tackling rising dislocations and banes of our national development including corruption, terrorism, bigotry in high places, herdsmen atrocities, ethnic militia formations, degradation of social standards, ritual killings, maltreatment of pensioners, the elderly, women and children, instability in tertiary institutions among other issues with a view to drawing the attention of the government to stemming their tide, outright stoppage and regeneration of the confidence of the masses in the state.