By NURA AHMED
As the International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) draws closer, preparations are being made in all fronts to ensure the success of the event.
In a statement issued by the ANA Executive Council ahead of the convention, the President, Mr. Camillus Chima Ukah stressed that the convention is open to all members of the association based in Nigeria and abroad.
He enjoined them to join the celebration at the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village in Abuja from 1st to 4th November 2023.
As part of the preparation for the convention, the national secretariat of the association has earlier announced the list of its 2023 ANA Fellowship nominees.
The Fellowship would be conferred on the deserving nominees during the conference.
The 31 nominees include Prof. Sunny Ijirhevwe Awhefeada, Prof. Emmanuel Dandaura, Prof. Joy Eyisi, Professor Nuhu Omeiza Yaqub, Malam Ibrahim Sheme and King Bubaraye Dakolo.
King Bubaraye Dakolo, who is the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom and Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, expressed appreciation for the recognition.
“I feel really cool about it. Coming from fellow Africans, coming from Nigerians, I shall value it far beyond the Prize of the European Chemist called Sir Alfred Nobel,” he said.
He thanked the ANA EXCO for recognizing his efforts at “telling our story, the African story, the Nigerian story, and the Niger Delta story”.
The King said the honour would encourage him to write and publish more books of relevance, speak out even more on how to exit “the rat race and enter the human race”, and provide more mentorship to younger minds who would want to author books of significance.
Professor Nuhu Omeiza Yaqub (OFR), also expressed deep appreciation for the honour.
The former Vice-Chancellor, University of Abuja, and the pioneer Vice-Chancellor, Sokoto State University, said he felt elated and extremely happy that such a prestigious honour was accorded him.
He thanked the ANA Exco and all the distinguished members of ANA for the kind gesture and pledged to dedicate himself and every resource at his disposal to ANA, its programmes and the principles undergirding them.
According to him, “It is just fair and essential that I make my resources available to the attainment of the organization’s objectives.
The wise saying that one good turn deserves another shall always be my mantra, for taking the organization forward… In the final analysis, ANA shall be me, and I shall be ANA! This is the only way I can justify the Award.”
Also expressing his feelings about his nomination as ANA Fellow, Malam Ibrahim Sheme, a veteran journalist, publisher and bilingual author, said he felt surprised and elated when he heard the announcement.
“I was actually surprised by the nomination, not that I didn’t feel adequately qualified for it, but to be fished out of so many people and honoured was way beyond my expectation, more so considering the fact that I have not been so much involved in ANA activities these past few years and I have not been blowing my horn about my accomplishments the way some other people are doing. I didn’t think that I would be noticed by the Exco,” he said.
He thanked the Exco for their decision to formally acknowledge his contribution to Nigerian literature and honour him for it. “I also thank those who drew their attention to my contribution to the cause of literature in Nigeria.”
Like the other nominees, Malam Sheme has contributed immensely to Nigerian literature. He has been involved with literary activism in several ways for about forty years – as a writer, literary journalist, and publisher. He started right from secondary school when he contributed literary pieces to the New Nigerian newspaper, through his undergraduate years; his career as a journalist where he created and edited literary columns in all the newspapers and magazines where he worked, and he ran a book publishing business where he helped bring out many budding authors.
He was also a member of ANA Exco at a time, as National Publicity Secretary, when the late Abubakar Gimba was the National President.
While Malam Sheme commended the ANA Exco for all its laudable initiatives which helped to push the cause of literature forward beyond its hitherto confined boundaries, he called on them to do even more.
“For instance, they should initiate posthumous awards for our heroes past on the literary field, and they should not neglect vernacular literature as there are thousands of writers and literary actors there who are not captured in ANA’s reckoning and plans; it is unAfrican that writers who use English are given all the priority,’ he said.
ANA President, Mr. Ukah, congratulated and reminded the nominees of the enormous responsibilities that come with the honour.
“They were recognized for their contributions to literary development. We hope that the Fellowship will encourage them to do even more for Nigerian literature,” he said.
