Our Scorecard - Association of Nigerian Authors

On November 14 2015 at the 34^th International Annual Convention of ANA held in Kaduna, the 2015-2017 National Executive Council was elected with Mallam Denja Abdullahi as the President. Going by the electoral promises made to the congress of the Association, the Executive Council went to work immediately to deliver the following within the spate of two years:

Formation of strategic councils, panels and committees at its inaugural meeting held on the 9th of January, 2015 in Abuja to fast track the delivery of the Association’s objectives. The council and committees are: The ANA National Advisory Council (first of its kind in the history of the Association and made up of 3 former presidents and two other elders of the Association); ANA Strategic Plan Development Committee; ANA Land Development Committee and ANA literary Prizes Adjudication Panel.
The National Executive Council re-worked the process of accessing the annual Yusuf Ali grant by ANA Chapters by calling for proposals which was assessed, leading to the award of grants to 16 successful chapters at the 5th Meeting of National Executive Council with chairmen and secretaries of chapters which held in Ilorin on the 9th of April,2016. A monitoring process was put in place, leading to a nationwide ANA/Yusuf Ali literary awareness campaign, with a special focus on tertiary institutions, held by the chapters given the grants.
ANA was in forefront of the fight for the release from prison, of one of its members, Nenghi Josef Ilagha , who was imprisoned for a purportedly libelous book he authored against a leading monarch in Bayelsa State. He was committed to prison in November, 2015 but freed on 26th of April, 2016, after much pressure from the Association.
The Association of Nigerian Authors participated in the review of the Nigerian Copyright Bill by making extensive submission on the draft sent to it by the Nigerian Copyright Commission and which was properly acknowledged by the Commission as contributing greatly to the improvement of the draft bill.
ANA in the renewed vigour to identify with its own at specific occasions and cultivate existing friendship with partners was represented by the President at the Posthumous launching of a book of its former president Alh Abubakar Gimba in Minna on the 25th of February,2016 and in the launching of a book by its patron ,Yusuf Ali, in Abuja on 17th May,2016.
ANA on May 13, 2016 held the Authors’ Groove at National International Book Fair in Lagos with one of its trustees, Prof Kole Omotoso, as Guest Speaker. Prior to that, ANA, represented by the President and the PRO South, have been playing prominent roles in the Council and the affairs of the Nigerian International Book Fair Trust.
ANA on the 3rd of June, 2016 signed an agreement with Box Office Studios Ltd in Abuja for the production of an audio visual documentary on the history, activities and achievement of the Association. The project was completed in December 2016 and a media preview of the film “ Dancing Mask: The ANA Story” was held at the Abuja International Film Village in February,2017. The project was executed with grants received from the Pan African Writers’ Association (PAWA).
A strategic planning workshop was held between 7-10 July,2016 at Kini Country Home, Akwanga, Nasarawa State , with 17 persons drawn across the strata of the Association’s membership participating , which led to the production of a 5 year strategic plan document(2017-20122) that was presented to the public at the 35th Anniversary International Convention of the Association which held in Abuja in October,2016.
The President of ANA empaneled a team led by a former President of ANA and a member of the ANA National Advisory Council, Dr Wale Okediran, to resolve the 4 year old lingering leadership dispute in ANA Niger . The team visited the chapter on the 4th of September, 2016 and the matter was successfully resolved with the enthronement of a caretaker committee to oversee the affairs of the chapter for a year.
In furthering the internationalization objective of the Association’s activities and cooperation among writers’ bodies across Africa, the President of ANA attended the Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) book festival which held at PAWA house, Accra –Ghana on the 21st of September, 2016. A fall out of that visit was the attendance of ANA’s 35th Anniversary Convention in Abuja in October, 2016 by a delegate from GAW.
ANA held the first ever National Teen Authorship Conference at Logos International Schools, Awommama, Owerri, Imo State from the 27-30 September, 2016. The conference attracted 20 schools in and around Owerri town and 15 teen mentors-trainees from 15 chapters of ANA across the country.
ANA successfully held a well-attended and very memorable 35th Anniversary Convention in Abuja from the 27-30 October, 2016 which was hosted by Senator Shehu Sani and attended by the First Lady of Imo State, Mrs Nnena Rochas Okorocha, among other dignitaries.
For the first time in ANA history, apart from the convention held in Abuja in 1985, ANA members attending the 35th Anniversary Convention were taken on a tour of the ANA land in Mpape, Abuja.
Three distinguished members of the Association (Dr Wale Okediran, Prof Jerry Agada and Late Capt. Elechi Amadi) were inducted as fellows of the Association at the 35th Anniversary Convention. Similar exercise was last carried out at the 2006 Convention in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
ANA was fully represented at the weeklong celebration of the 70th Birthday of its former president and member of its National Advisory Council, Prof Femi Osofisan, which held in the University of Ibadan in 2016.
ANA participated actively at both national and states level in the burial ceremony of the late Capt Elechi Amadi which held in December,2016.
ANA in its drive to partner and network with fellow arts and culture organization in the country and beyond towards worthwhile literary causes, anchored a panel on literary prizes at the Lagos Book and Arts Festival(LABAF) held by Committee of Relevant Arts(CORA) in November,2016.
The 2015-2017 ANA National Executive Council in encouraging democratic principles in ANA chapters across the country supported and monitored the holding of elections into States Chapters’ Executive Councils as at when due in chapters such as Akwa-Ibom, Benue, Abuja, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Rivers, Kwara, Kogi, Osun, Ekiti, Kano, Zamfara, Abia , Bayelsa, Kebbi and Lagos at various times within the years under review.
The National Executive Council of ANA in late 2016 and spilling over to February,2017, was able to network with Chevron Nigeria Plc, the sponsor of the long rested ANA/Chevron Prose Prize on Writings on the Environment , for the redemption of the prize money of $2,000 for the winning entries of year 2011 and 2014(The Poacher’s Daughter by Prof Jonah Agunwamba and Oil Cemetery by Prof May Ifeoma Nwoye).
Rising from its 2nd Inaugural meeting of 18th February,2017 at Abuja, ANA signed an MOU with STRADA Development Initiative establishing ANA Programme on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism(ANA-PCVE) with a programme manager from STRADA and 6 members of ANA drawn from the 6 Geo-Political Zones of the country.
ANA for the year 2017 further streamlined its literary prizes by removing from its array of advertised prizes a few prizes whose endowments have since expired or which no longer received competitive entries.
ANA National Executive Council in the year 2017 partnered with some of its chapters in the staging of special programmes and events such as the marking of the World Book Day by ANA Bauchi on 2nd March 2017; inauguration of ANA Kano Executive Council and courtesy call to the Emir of Kano on March 30 ,2017 ; A Day with Wole Soyinka by Bayeslsa State Government with ANA Bayelsa on 16th July,2017 and a courtesy call to the Governor of Edo State with ANA Edo on 14th of July,2017.
The 6th National Executive Council Meeting with Chairmen and Secretaries of ANA Chapters held on the 4th of May,2017 in Ilorin, Kwara State to review the annual Yusuf Ali literary awareness project and other developments in the Association with a view to aligning the Association’s future activities in line with the Strategic Plan document of the Association(2017-2022).
ANA Donated 100 new titles of books, sourced from its 2016 and 2017 literary prizes entries, to the Justice Mustapha Akanbi Foundation Library in Ilorin in May 2017. The Foundation which was made an honorary member of the Association at the 35th Anniversary Convention of ANA, has been hosting the ANA National Executive Council Meeting with Chairmen and Secretaries of Chapters since 2012. Earlier on in January,2017, ANA donated some books to the Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Jos, towards refurbishing the University’s burnt Library under the Beauty from Ashes project of the University.
In February 2017, ANA National Executive Council in conjunction with the ANA land Development Committee instituted a monthly monitoring scheme of the development on ANA Land in Mpape ,Abuja with specific developmental timelines agreed with the developer. This culminated in the Foundation Laying and Tree-planting Ceremony held on the land on the 26 of May,2017 with a serving Senator, a member of the House of Representatives, members of the ANA land committee, members of ANA National Advisory Council and other members in attendance. Work is on-going on the land.
ANA in partnership with Poetry In Nigeria(PIN) held a night of Poetry Performance in the Indigenous languages at the Nzeh Mada Festival held in Akwanga on the 14th of April,2017.This is in furtherance of the promise made for partnering with the Mada Community in bringing in innovation to the Festival events.
Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria(REPRONIG), a collection society for copyright owners of literary works paid a courtesy call to ANA on April 2017 in Abuja, led by Chairman of its board, Prof Olu Obafemi to lay the foundation of a mutually beneficial partnership with ANA. ANA President later attended a workshop on copyright licensing in Tertiary Institutions held by the Society and The Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities in Abuja between 8-9 August,2017.
ANA National in partnership with ANA Lagos hosted the annual Authors’ Groove at the Nigerian International Book Fair Held in University of Lagos on the 12 of May,2017 with a special focus on the National Book Policy. ANA Documentary Film “Dancing Mask: The ANA Story” was screened at the event.
ANA furthered its linkage activities with foreign literary Associations by cooperating with the Society of Nepali Writers in English, leading to the translation of the poetry of 8 Nigerian poets into Nepali language and published in a bilingual Nepali journal in July 2017. Already, works are on-going in producing an anthology of 25 Nigerian poets in a bilingual Nepali book.
ANA facilitated the process leading to the honouring of one of its trustees, Labo Yari, by the Kaduna State Government with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening Ceremony of the maiden Kaduna State Books and Arts Festival(KABAFEST),which held in Kaduna on the 5th of July,2017.
ANA in its strategic identification with its members, friends and Associates in their times of joys and sorrows was present at the funeral of the son of its foremost benefactor, Haruna Mamman Jiya Vatsa on 5th Of July,2017 in Kaduna. The President later led a team of ANA members to pay a condolence visit to the family at their residence in Kaduna the next day. Similarly, ANA was at the funeral prayer for the father of its benefactor, Yusuf Ali, held in May 2017 in Ibadan and was on condolence visit to Dr Wale Okediran, Former ANA President, who lost his wife in December,2016. ANA had had cause to release official tributes and obsequies, attend Nights of Tributes on the passage of prominent writers and literary critics in the year under review such as Isidore Okpewho, Buchi Emecheta, Senator Muktari Abdulkarim, Osita Ike, Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo, Charry Ada Onwu, Onuorah Nzekwu, Abiola Irele and Adebayo Faleti.
ANA activated its publishing outfit NWS Publishers with the appointment of a Managing Editor in the person of Mr Osarobu Igudia in 2016, leading to the processes that eventuality saw to the publication of three (3) new children’s literature titles under the Nigerian Writers Series imprint in August, 2017 that will be used to power the A-Book-A-Child nationwide project of the Association.
ANA in the year 2017 at various times was in secondary schools in Enugu, Abia, and Bayelsa States to inaugurate the Young Writers Mentoring Scheme in furtherance of nurturing literary creativity among teenagers and young persons.
ANA in Partnership with Federal University, Ndufu –Alike Ikwo in Ebonyi State was scheduled to hold a one day symposium on The Expanding Frontiers in Nigeria’s Creative Writing in the 21st Century on the 21st of August,2017 before the on-going ASUU Strike disrupted the plan. The symposium was to be a prelude to the commencement of an annual ANA national conference on the criticism of emergent Nigerian Literature in 2018.