ON READING – KANO WRITERS HONOUR OKEDIRAN

“Reading” is one of the cultures that is said to be lost among Nigerians, young and old. For the young, the immediate reason has to almost definitely do with handheld mobile devices which have taken over their lives; while, for the not-so-young, the remote causes include the general downturn of everything everywhere, though this explanation […]

“Reading” is one of the cultures that is said to be lost among Nigerians, young and old. For the young, the immediate reason has to almost definitely do with handheld mobile devices which have taken over their lives; while, for the not-so-young, the remote causes include the general downturn of everything everywhere, though this explanation is seen as not reason enough. But truly, reading culture (of books and other printed fare, including newspapers) has taken a serious bashing in this country from at least the 1980s. Some say it is a global phenomenon, but it seems ours is worse than most.
It is, therefore, a breath of fresh air that the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) introduced a project titled “Read Across Nigeria” (RAN) with the aim of promoting reading and tackling the fast-eroding reading culture among Nigerians. Conceived as an idea by an ANA member Wole Adedoyin of the Oyo State Branch, RAN was adopted by the Association nationwide, and the maiden edition held this Thursday April 14, 2016 all over the country in honour of one-time ANA National President Dr. Wale Okediran, who incidentally turned 61 on the day. Wale is a professional one-timer – one-time Member of the House of Representatives, and one-time medical doctor (though he says that’s perpetual).
And of all the other states of the Federation and Abuja where the RAN event held simultaneously this Thursday, Wale chose to come to Kano – not Oyo, his home State and the state of the RAN idea originator; not FCT, where he lives and has lived since ‘coming into town’; and not Lagos, ‘that happening place’ that prides itself as the ‘Centre of Excellence’. Wale came to Kano, but for a very good reason – and I will let you into the secret (psst…he is married to a Kano lady, Maryam Ali, another writer, and he has had to honour us, his in-laws.)
The Kano ‘event’ was actually organised as a series of activities over a five-day period. Activities included radio interviews to promote reading, school sensitisation reading tours, books donations, creative writing workshops, prizes presentation for outstanding participants, and a special reading. This final event, a Special Reading, held at the American Corner of the Murtala Muhammad Library. Organisations that supported the RAN effort in Kano included ANA Kano itself, Adamu Joji Publishers, Whetson Arts and Translation Services and BASKY Language for Development.
Three young ‘movers and shakers’ of Kano ANA anchored the series of events: Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah, Abdulkadir Badsha Mukhtar and Khalid Imam. During the school visits, talks were given on why we should read. Reading, the speakers said, is not only as a divine command (Iqra’), but as one of the key factors that differentiates humans from animals. Books and magazines were awarded to students who answered questions thrown at them; while more books (donated by some Kano writers) donated to stock the visited schools’ libraries. But perhaps the most exciting activity was the Creative Writing Workshop conducted for selected secondary school students.
During that Workshop, Dr. Okediran himself, author of many publications including ‘Tenants in the House’ (reminiscence of his sojourn at the House of Reps) facilitated English fiction writing while Abdulkadir Badsha Mukhtar, former ANA Kano Secretary and now staff of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) Press, taught Hausa fiction writing on behalf of the doyen of Hausa fiction Professor Yusuf M. Adamu, Director BUK Press; Ismail Bala of BUK’s Department of English and Literary Studies taught poetry. The students were taught various writing skills and some exercises were conducted to determine comprehension on what they were taught. At the end of the workshops, the best three works from each session were awarded prizes and certificates.
The highlight of Kano RAN, as stated earlier, was the Special Reading. Notable Kano-based authors and writers presented part of their works to an enthusiastic audience. The most eye-catching and emotionally-charging and future-encouraging of these presentations were those by young writers, mostly from primary and secondary schools: Ammar Rabi’u presented “A Message for President Muhammad Buhari” (a piece of writing coined as a piece of advice for the Nigerian president); Muhammad Rufa’i Jega presented a story titled “My New School”; while Mukhtar Bashir executed a well-rendered citation of the honouree, Dr. Wale Okediran, from a book of fifty Nigerian writers.
Other presenters included a young and brilliant poet, Safiyya Ibrahim Abdulhamid (who presented excerpts from her second poetry collection, “Destined by the Rhythm”); a young novelist, Zahra Tabi’u (who had written her first book “Desire and Destiny” while still a secondary school student); and Ismail Bala (a poem titled “Both Together and Each Alone”). Others who presented in English included Tijjani Muhammad Musa, Mrs. Fatima Aminu Yahya, Ammar Femoh Sesay, Sameera Ali, Nazir Kallah, Aliyu Abdullahi, Taufiq Aminu Yahya and Sani Isa Yau.
The Hausa Reading had as presenters Zaharaddeen Ibrahim Kallah (a poem titled “Ranar Haduwa”); Abdullahi Kangala (a poem titled “Budurwar Wawa”); Danladi Haruna (a short story titled “Daren Zuwa Ingila”); while other presenters in Hausa included Maude Rabi’u Gwadabe, Yaseer Kallah and Khalid Imam.
In his response for the honour of being the first honouree of RAN, Dr. Wale Okediran responded thus: “ANA already has an annual National Literary Awareness Campaign which has been ably supported for the last few years by my good friend, Mallam Yusuff Ali (SAN). Therefore, I expect the Read Across Nigeria (RAN) Project to be a worthy addition to this important activity. I have also been informed that the RAN Project will be an annual event which will be used to honour different authors on a yearly basis.
“As the RAN’s maiden honouree, I promise to always be available to support the project so that the pervasive problem of the poor reading culture in the country will be addressed not only on an annual basis, but on a continuous daily basis. As parents and guardians, the primary responsibility to instill into our children and wards the culture for reading lies with us and not with their teachers. Teachers are only there to augment our initial efforts. Therefore, let us all resolve in ourselves to read to our children and wards on a daily basis. Through this, we shall inculcate in them the very important culture of reading.”
One other reason why Dr. Okediran is always honoured among writers is the Ebedi Writers Residency he established in his home town of Iseyin six years ago. On that project, Wale had said: “The idea of establishing it was nursed by my wife who is from Kano. When we visited my hometown, she saw the Ebedi building empty and out of use. That was when she gave me the idea of the residency. The Residency is now doing well in promoting literature. Many writers from home and abroad attend it, and they have done a lot in mentoring young people from that community. This development has inspired other prominent writers such as Wole Soyinka to establish writers’ residencies in their states.” Okediran referred to Kano as his home, and would love to see another writers’ residency established in Kano.
In their Vote of Thanks, ANA Kano reminded all that it holds two creative events every month at the Murtala Muhammad Library, Ahmadu Bello Way – the Hausa Session on the first Sunday of the month at 11am; and the English Session on the last Saturday of the month also at 11am (immediately after Environmental Sanitation). Writers and other interested people are invited to present their creative output for comments, critiques and suggestions for improvement.
All in all, Kano RAN was a very epoch-making and well-attended event which sought to rekindle the reading culture of Nigerians. And may it be so, one-time and all times!