Daily Independent (Lagos)
Yemi Adebisi
6 October 2008
Lagos — Rivers State government in collaboration with Rainbow Book Club has made history with the successful hosting of the maiden literary festival at the University of Port Harcourt between Wednesday, September 24 and Saturday, September 27 entitled, Writers Without Borders.
The gathering, which was the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria, brought to the finger tips of participants, great writers and literary icons like Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, Kofi Awoonor, Elechi Amadi, Okey Ndibe, Kaine Agary and Petrina Crockford. The venue of the festival, University of Port Harcourt, was considered to be a good choice because of the large turn out of attendees, who were principally students from some of the tertiary institutions in Nigeria, who declared that the forum had positively influenced their perceptions about literature and nation building.
Writers, students, journalists and people from various walks of life had the opportunity to meet these great icons one on one at various segments of the interactive sessions.
At the opening session on Wednesday, the Rivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, said his government was delighted with the massive turn out and appreciated the organisers and the literary icons that made the event historical, which according to him "will stir interest in literature and inspire a reading culture sadly lacking in our society."
Amaechi said his government has lofty ideas for the promotion of education and eradication of illiteracy. "Books are the tools by which such aspirations can be met. Determined as our efforts may be, we can hardly achieve any measure of success without the inculcation of reading culture, particularly in our youths who must be encouraged not only to read for examination purposes but also for their enlightenment and entertainment."
There was a command performance hosted by the governor in the night of the opening ceremony at the government house. Participants were treated with music and plays of some Nigerian artistes under a more relaxed gesture.
Founder of Rainbow Book Club, Mrs. Koko Kalango, who said the festival was government's initiative, while welcoming the participants, reminded the people about the historical stature of Rivers State, which she said has been home to great achievers and writers like Gabriel Okara and Ola Rotimi. She said the festival was a step in the right direction because it enshrined the importance of literacy and the arts in building a strong society.
Kalango appeared to have natural passion for literature. She has been involved in reading campaign throughout the nooks and crannies of the state in the past, which was observed to have become a culture that speaks against war in the Niger Delta region. She declared that the greatest treasure she gives her family is book.
The interactive session with Professor Wole Soyinka was a rare opportunity as participants had the chance to take him on issues of national interest. Responding to why UNESCO had to locate the recent culture institute in Obasanjo's library, Soyinka, who described Obasanjo as 'an uncultured and failed ruler' said, "It is an abomination that such an institute should be cited in the private premises of a failed ruler of this nation; an uncultured ruler who knows nothing and has no interest whatsoever in culture. International understanding is built on national understanding. The institute proposed here is the institute of African culture and international understanding. It is a venture, which, rightly, UNESCO should be interested in and one; we in Nigeria should be very proud of. That institute would be a think tank. It spreads beyond Nigeria border and all that. It is very appropriate, no doubt. But the problem is where it's being proposed to be sited."
In his assessment of the Obasanjo regime, he said, "among all the rulers we have had, the man who has done the greatest damage to national understanding in its eight years of his rule is Olusegun Obasanjo."
Soyinka further stressed that Nigeria is not practising democracy yet, going by the conduct of the last national election, which, according to him, was conducted in the most unruly and corrupt manner by Maurice Iwu.
"We are not living in democracy. If we are living in democracy, will Iwu still be the head of INEC after the disgraceful conduct of the last election? The cynical manipulation of the election results brought out in the open court documented video films of what went on; would somebody like Iwu not even have run out of this country? The same Iwu is still retained as the head of INEC. And you say you are running a democracy. No, it is not a democracy at all."
Soyinka used the forum to assure the young writers that they had hope, if they would not relent on their efforts, to read other writers to improve their skills. He also stressed the need to continually attend workshops and seminars of this manner to attain a veritable standard. He was personally worried that there is no school of creative writing in Nigeria and Ghana and lamented that most Nigerian writers learn on the job.
On the issue of youths that are carrying arms in the Niger Delta, he advised that they should drop their guns and dialogue.
"Arm struggle should always be a last resort. Once it starts, there is no control. You can never predict its direction. It's important for people to sit down habitably, discuss, debate and negotiate. The moment, in a serious manner, the Federal Government and the rest of Nigerians understand that the Niger Delta issue can be solved best in a holistic manner, the sooner that it will end."
Soyinka narrated how the name Kongi was given to him. "Kongi character is a character from Kongi's Harvest, one of my plays. Gauis Anoka was supposed to play this role but he moved to the other side of Biafra during the civil war and was held up by security men. The director of the film lost his patience to fill the character. Who then was the obvious to do this? Me now! I played Kongi and since that time, my name has become Kongi. Kongi was supposed to be a reflection of a bad person in Yoruba context but I never mind."
Soyinka, however, did not support the outcome of the Bakassi tussle, as he considered it an unnecessary problem. "On Bakassi, we shouldn't have behaved like the former colonial powers. It is messy by those who say this is national sovereign. Our national pride is involved. People there should have decided where they wanted. You now start crying because the decision has gone against you; you should never have gone to international court at all. There are people who make their fortunes by elongation of cases in international court. We should recognise the fact that we are products of external imposition."
Elechi Amadi, Kofi Awoonor, Okey Ndibe and Kaine Agary at different sessions gave lectures on writing, scripting and editing. Elechi Amadi told the story of how he became a writer having served in the Nigeria Army and practising quantity survey for several years. In one of his lectures said the primary aim of fiction writing is to entertain because people are driven to read fiction to satisfy their curiosity because they want to know. He elaborately gave hints on what he called "good writers' equipment" as gift for writing, language, imagination, and power of observation, passion, hard work and sensitivity.
The festival was essentially participatory as participants were asking relevant questions in each of the sessions with perceived good gesture.
The festival also witnessed an ultra modern book fair as many publishers had the opportunity to display their new works, free of charge.
One of the guest lecturers, Professor Chidi Ikonne, from the University of Port Harcourt, who delivered a 16-page paper on the theme, Black American Writers In Quest of Borders said, the forms of African-American strategy in their quest for a place as citizens within borders of America, range from apparent rejection of their citizenship to almost abject pleading for recognition. Worried about the African-American responses to their citizenship, he said,
"The African-American' awareness of their American citizenship is so strong that some of them go beyond mere affirmation of their American birthright/sonship to reject Africa, one of the two warriors in the battle to which their bodies are perpetually subjected."
This maiden session of Garden City Literary Festival was commendable as it was properly managed. It is expected to be an annual programme and would be a great experience if other states of the federation can borrow a leaf from the laudable venture, as it improves reading culture and encourage national unity.
The audience in the hall was under control except the intermittent power failure that made some of the dignitaries on the high table to be physically destabilised at the beginning. Though the situation was rectified eventually. Also, the attendance of not less than about 5,000 participants at each session was amazing. It was reported that the school management offered the accommodation provided for participants who came from outside Port Harcourt at the University of Port Harcourt campuses freely.
Rainbow Book Club, organisers of the event, are the initiators and promoters of the Get Nigeria Reading Again! campaign, which has been carried from Port Harcourt to Calabar, Abuja and Lagos.
In 2008, the reading campaign took a new turn by getting leaders to read to children. The Leaders Read initiative was kicked off by former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who read to children at the United Nations building Abuja, April, in commemoration of the UN World Book and Copyright Day. Since then Rainbow Book Club founder, Koko Kalango has led two governors into Nigerian public primary school classrooms to read to children. Governor Amaechi of Rivers State read to the children of Port Harcourt Primary School on Children's Day and also, Governor Fashola of Lagos State read to children of St. Peters Anglican Nursery and Primary School, Alausa, Lagos, on the UN International Literacy Day.
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