Jerry Adesewo
The farmer governor of Niger state, Mohammed Bago, whose passion for literature is no longer a secret, earlier today chaired the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Academy of Letters’s Creative Writing Capacity Building Workshop.
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The governor, represented by former Secretary General of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), and founder/president of the Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation, Mallam B.M. Dzukogi, commended the organisers for the brilliant initiative dedicated to mentoring the creative skills of young people.
He said “Niger state is with you. As you know, we are a leading state when it comes to literary development in Nigeria and the west of Africa today. We are the only state with a book development agency. We are the only state with the longest running teen aithorship and teen arts festival.” The governor added that Niger state is the birthplace of some of Nigeria’s great writers and leaders like Odumegwu Ojukwu, Abubakar Imam, Cyprian Ekwensi, Abunakar Gimba, and Ben Okri amongst many others.
Speaking further, the governor reiterated that Niger state is open to collaboration for all sorts of artistic, cultural and creative initiatives, that is designed to add value to the lives of young persons and Nigerians in general. “Niger state is dedicated to value addition and we are open to impactful ideas from like minds. ”
The 2024 National Creative Writing Capacity Development Workshop was thereafter declared open by the governor, with a pledge of a shopping sum of three million naira in support of the workshop which will run till the 7th of March, with participants from across the nation.
Speaking earlier, the President of NAL, Prof. Sola Akinrinade assert that, despite the challenges, NAL will continue to promote capacity building initiatives like this “We are poised to do more, and we are going to dif deep to ensure that we do more. This skills are being passed down, to ensure that the future is cateres for.”
There are more than 60 participants, selected from across the country. The facilitatoes include award winning authors like Chinyere Obi-Obasi, Obinna Udenwe, Obari Gomba and Prof. Gbemisola.