Creative Writing Workshop exposes challenges of teaching English, Literature in schools

By Anote Ajeluorou

It’s not in dispute that the quality of written and spoken English among Nigerian school students has fallen in recent years. But to what exact extent this fall is may be in dispute. Even examination bodies like WAEC, NECO and SSCE may not readily be yardsticks of measurement, as ‘Miracle Centres’, where ridiculous results are churned out make a mockery of these examinations’ outputs.

  But direct contact with students from an impartial source outside of the school system, as Associate Professor of Literature at Texas State University, U.S., Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo did a few weeks ago, shows the level of rot in the poor usage of the received, colonial language and Nigeria’s lingua franca. At the Empowerment Creative Writing Workshop he organised for secondary schools students in Warri, Delta State, Ifowodo, who attended Federal Government College, Warri, saw firsthand how bad things have become.

  While Warri might have been a test case for the exercise, it mirrored a nationwide malaise in the educational system, where students’ apathy to learning is in decline. On the last day of the workshop, Ifowodo sat down in a roundtable conversation with five teachers from some of the participating schools - Oghior Secondary School, Ekete Secondary School, Ogbe-Udu Secondary School, Urhobo College, Army Day Secondary School, Federal Government College, Hussey Boys Model College, Nana Girls Model College and Delta Secondary School.

  In his remarks, Ifowodo noted that if there were no English teachers in a school (as some students attending the workshop admitted), there was no reason for the school to exist. Although he commended Delta State Government and a few other states for the rehabilitation and renovation of schools, he lamented the lack of human capital (teachers) needed to make the first class infrastructure meaningful. He also noted that spoken English by most of the students was poor, adding that schools were fast becoming breeding grounds for illiteracy. He then stressed the need for training and retraining of teachers for effectiveness.

  If Ifowodo’s comments about schools in Delta State were anything, they represented what was obtainable in virtually all public schools in the country. For example, some Youth Corps members posted to teach in Ogun State said they had to teach with a Yoruba interpreter in tow for the students to understand what was being said, as they could not understand basic English, the language of instruction.

  One after the other, the teachers took time to explain the delicate and impossible situation they found themselves as teachers of English and Literature. Rita (not her real name) said students and their parents were not interested in buying school texts in much the same way that they were not interested in reading notes given to them, “so their response to questions is poor. They can’t write properly; they have general apathy to studying. Giving them three marks out of 10 is even being generous”.

  Another teacher, Adesua (not real name) also echoed Rita. She said she encountered the same problem with her students, adding, “Our students speak too much pidgin. As a result, they cannot speak English. They can’t express themselves beyond three sentences as answers to questions. They see Literature as a waste of time; they don’t want to read. They are more interested in watching home videos.

  “So, I’m trying to form a drama club; they tend to learn more through practicals, as our efforts to help stimulate their interest. The habit of reading is not there; they are not interested in studying”.

  A recent mass transfer of teachers in the state might have caused more damage and instability than good, so said Marry (not real name). “I enjoyed Literature as a young person. I could forfeit a meal just to read. But it took me desperate efforts to get my students interested in Literature. I want to see a difference; I’ve been battling to get them interested. I even award five marks for getting a recommended text, which isn’t enough incentive for them. Literature is a subject to enjoy but it’s hard getting them to read.

  “But when I introduced Unseen Literature to them through practical usage, they began to pick up gradually. The short pieces I used aroused them. Another problem is that students in my area don’t like coming to school”.

  At this point, Rita interjected, “The foundation is mostly bad; most of the students in secondary schools don’t even know alphabets. I had to ask them to get the Queen Primer meant for nursery pupils!”

  Another teacher, Gladys (not real name) also agreed. She personally bought Queen Primer to teach her students. She urged government to review the scheme of primary schools to assist pupils better. Gladys also complained about students’ poor attitude to school attendance. Her school asked some older youths in the community to forcibly bring to school any student they saw playing truant during school hours. Perhaps, her school’s initiative foretold Delta State Government’s planned introduction of School Marshalls scheduled to take off next month. They would enforce compulsory enrolment of persons of school age among other things.

  “We preach to them to come to school,” Gladys continued, “and point out to them the benefits of education. But some always counter us to say, ‘our ‘chairman’ (usually the political godfather in the area), did he go to school yet he is rich!’ They know that most of those in politics, who also have money, did not go to school, so why should they bother? That is the terrible mindset.”

  Benedict (not real name, who teachers in a heavily populated girls’ school) said it took him time to come to terms with the reality of teaching about 1000 students Literature, as there was no other teacher before he was posted there back in the 1990s. But since then, he said, “I make my students realise the importance of Literature and reading, as ways of motivating them. I started with background to Literature, and that Literature is life. I encourage them to see Literature as a means of building a proper society. I also make them realise the importance of being voracious readers. Attitude of buying books among students is zero; but a few come to me for counseling. Only 10 out of 80 students bought The Last Good Man recommended!

  “Parents compound problems for teachers. They are too money-conscious. Most parents don’t know the classes their children are in. They just throw money at these children thinking that’s all is required of them for their children to excel. They don’t care how the money is being utilised. Most libraries in schools are not functional. Most of the books are outdated.

  “Another problem is that some parents take their children to these ‘Miracle Centres’, where they make 12 As, where examination malpractice is the game. It’s affecting standards of education. Criteria for admitting students into JSS1 must be standardised. Although schools’ supervisors still visit schools, but they only supervise teachers; they don’t bother to see what the students are doing. Private schools are also killing education, as government is not supervising them properly”.

  Benedict also insisted that government needed to thoroughly screen teachers before giving them employment, as most of them were ill-equipped to teach due to poor training and so couldn’t impact knowledge on others.

  Close interaction with a principal of one of the schools, whose students at the workshop complained of not have had an English or Literature for over a year, stated how difficult it was to secure the services of good teachers in key subjects like English, Mathematics, Literature among others. She stated that with the recent redistribution of teachers in the state, more than 80 per cent were transferred away, adding, “I don’t have enough teachers. I have made several representations to Asaba, implored my community leaders to intervene, but it’s all promises we get.

  “I have impressed the urgency of the situation on my employers. I’ve had to draft other teachers to cover up so there will be no vacuum. It exacts a strain on my teachers”.

  Ifowodo, who could hide his dismay at the level of disenchantment in public schools in Delta State, one of the states reputed for academic excellence in years gone by, wondered what other states in the country with less endowments and facilities would be grappling with.

  While commenting on the overall performance of the students after the workshop, Ifowodo lamented, “My observation is that our students are being so poorly served. They are very eager, very keen to learn. But they haven’t had the best preparation. If back in their schools they have resources, they will do far better. But I’m encouraged. If they don’t let the spirit of the workshop die, they will go far.

  “We all know that things are bad, and some governments like Delta State’s are trying to do something. Having good infrastructure, the atmosphere should give a sense of seriousness. But the software – books, teachers, revised curriculum that help solve 21st century problem – are lacking. Some students who came for creative writing workshop said they haven’t had English teacher for two years. Some in secondary schools don’t know the alphabets; it’s so shocking you are agape. You don’t know where to start.

  “But sporadic interventions like this alone cannot solve all the problems. Education is number one priority of any nation looking to advance. We’re in dire straits in the use of English language in Nigeria. Students literally transliterate from poorly understood spoken English or mother tongue to English. They don’t have a grasp of the basic elements of English language; it’s a sorry situation. We all have to be advocates in our communities to make things work!”

Empowerment Creative Writing Workshop… Catching them young in Warri

By Anote Ajeluorou

When Associate Professor of Literature at Texas State University, U.S., Dr. Ogaga Iwofodo conceived the idea of organising Empowerment Creative Writing Workshop for secondary school students in Warri, Delta State, his aim was to stimulate the minds of the young participants towards expressing themselves creatively the way poetry and fiction allows. He had his own poetic epiphany that way back in the 1980s at Federal Government College, Warri. Today, he’s an award-winning poet, as a result.

  So, he’d stated simply, as his objective, “ While a workshop may not match the amnesty programme through which the federal government has tried to palliate the youths of the Niger Delta, the hope is that it will emphasise and help inculcate an important skill for sublimating feelings of anger and frustration into an aesthetically and socially productive form of art.

  “Through the habit of keen observation and deep reflection on their society in order to write about their experiences (personal or imagined), the participants will be encouraged to appreciate the value of self-expression by way of the cultivation of good writing skills, especially as such skills need not be limited to creative writing but can also lead to careers in journalism (print or electronic, including blogging) and in the public relations and technical communication departments of corporations”.

  Vexed by inability of leaders in the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole to effect positive changes in the fortunes of his people, Ifowodo had sourced for a small grant from International Institute of Education, U.S., with support from Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to hold the workshop. Now, Ifowodo is already exploring avenues of collaboration with other supporters of youth talent to take the workshop to other parts of Delta and beyond so as to spread its enriching knowledge.

  But little did the Texas State University, U.S. don realise just how close he’d actually instinctively touched the core yearnings of these young ones. And as each student stood up to state why they’d volunteered to participate in the workshop at Morgan Smart Women and Youth Empowerment Resource Centre, Oki Street, Okere, Warri, it was apparent that Ifowodo’s mission couldn’t have been more timely.

  The students said they enjoyed reading novels and books and wanted to also write and express themselves. In so doing would they better grasp their world, they each argued. Moreover, they wanted to be better writers and users of the language of communication – English – and no better opportunity existed than the one the workshop offered. On and on they expressed their individual enthusiasm for making a better start by equipping themselves for the exciting world of writing.

  Ifowodo nodded and keenly felt the more the burden he’d put on himself. But the lawyer-turned-literary don and poet wasn’t only aware of the enormity of the task before him, he was ready to also discharge it admirably.

  Not even the dampener of the usual inability of top government functionaries (this time the Hon. Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, himself a writer) to turn up for the workshop opening, an event that would have further stimulated and challenged the 20 selected students to aspire more, mattered after all. The students’ overall performance at the workshop was a study in youth thirst for knowledge that is ever so lacking in environments where education commissioners treat young people with disdain. Not even Eghagha’s counterpart in Basic and Secondary education section, Prof. Patrick Muoghare, showed up for the closing either. But the three female staff at Warri South Education office were uncommonly efficient in coordination that ensured a hitch-free 3-day event.

  Two students came from each participating school, including Oghior Secondary School, Ekete Secondary School, Ogbe-Udu Secondary School, Urhobo College, Army Day Secondary School, Ugborikoko Secondary School and Federal Government College. Others were Hussey Boys Model College, Nana Girls Model College and Delta Secondary School.

STARTING with poetry, a genre he has won prizes, Ifowodo took the students through its rudiments and highlighted the importance of the language of communication – English in Nigeria – as a tool to master first before any meaningful writing could take place. With the simple rhyming poem:

Two and two

Are rather blue

Ifowodo unfolded before them elements of poetry and how the genre works. He used JP Clark’s ‘Ibadan’, Christopher Okogbo’s ‘Watermaid’ and Gabriel Okara’s ‘One Night at Victoria Beach’ as examples and teaching texts.

  The students were greatly inspired as they discussed, argued, asked and answered questions freely. From poetry, the discussion moved to fiction the next day, with the short story as starter. As in poetry, Ifowodo explained elements of fiction with ample examples and they studied two texts – Wole Soyinka’s Ake: The Years of Childhood and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. They are two texts that deal with childhood and school experiences. The students found the texts exciting, as they deal with experiences within their age range.

  Students were asked to write a short story about any memorable experience they remembered in their childhood, as workshop assignment. In about an hour they turned in stories that amazed workshop facilitator, Ifowodo. The stories were reviewed together, which the students did with keen interest; it showed their eagerness to learn.

  On the third day, Friday, February 28, the participating students received certificates and three impactful books capable of transforming their raw talent into prodigious ones: The Art of the Poetic Line by James Longenback, Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott and the classic, The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Ifowodo had a roundtable with five of the English and Literature teachers, who exposed the rot in the school system to the facilitator’s amazement.

  At the presentation, English and Literature teachers and some schools’ principals were in attendance, including Warri South Chief Inspector of Education, Mr. Mike E. Emeshili, who advised the students to take advantage of the workshop to horn their skills as writers. He also advised them against the use of pidgin, as it had “no place in our education system. You should impact your society with the training you’ve received here from the professor”.

  While commenting on the performance of the students after the workshop and his over all impression, Ifowodo lamented, “My observation is that our students are being so poorly served. They are very eager, very keen to learn. But they haven’t had the best preparation. They are focused. In such a short time, they learnt so much and gave back so much. If back in their schools they have resources, they will do far better. But I’m encouraged. If they don’t let the spirit of the workshop die, they will go far.

  “We all know that things are bad, and some governments like Delta State’s are trying to do something. Having good infrastructure, the atmosphere should give a sense of seriousness. But the software – books, teachers, revised curriculum that help solve 21st century problem – are lacking. Some students who came for creative writing workshop said they don’t have English teacher for two years. Some in secondary schools don’t know the alphabets; it’s so shocking you are agape. You don’t know where to start.

  “But sporadic interventions like this alone cannot solve all the problems. Education is number one priority of any nation looking to advance. We’re in dire straits in the use of English language in Nigeria. Students literally transliterate from poorly understood spoken English or mother tongue to English. They don’t have a grasp of the basic elements of English language; it’s a sorry situation. We all have to be advocates in our communities to make things work!”

Okoye’s The Fourth World plumbs privations in urban ghettos

By Anote Ajeluorou

Kasanga Avenue. Chiralum. This pair forms the vicious world of grinding poverty that Commonwealth Prize winning novelist Ifeoma Okoye forces down the consciousness of her readers. And for good reasons, too.

  Too often those who have managed to escape that grotesque world forget too soon. For those who haven’t even walked that path, it might as well be mere fiction. But Okoye balances out the equation somewhat in this harrowing novel The Fourth World (The Rising People’s Press, Enugu; 2013) set in a typical slum in a third world country. The slum is the universal ‘fourth world’ in which Okoye’s imagination ranges.

  Even the title is symbolic of her focus. The third world refers to the poorest countries of the world located in Africa, South America and parts of Asia. Now, with these countries, Okoye has located a grimmer fourth world, whose unrelenting poverty on its inhabitants leaves you reeling in its viciousness. In this Okoye is a mistress of graphic portrayal of grim reality lived out by a majority of citizens for whom there is no redemption from the poverty they are mired in by wrong social-economic systems erected to keep them down forever.

  In The Fourth World, Enugu’s Kasanga Avenue is another name for grinding poverty. It’s the name for urban slums where life’s prospects are small and opportunities are too slim for its inhabitants, especially the restless young, who want to escape from it for a better life elsewhere. It’s the abode for the unskilled, uneducated workers, a place for those without any means of advancing themselves in the social ladder. It’s the home of the wretched of the earth.

  Chiralum, or Chira for short, is one of the bright girls living on Kasanga Avenue. Her father, Akalaka, though poor, believes in her daughter and wants her to go far in life, farther than his limited horizon allows him. In spite of his abject poverty, as a precarious labourer for hire, he starves himself and his wife just to see that Chira gets good education, as the only ticket to the better life his ill fate cannot fetch him. With the little he has, Akalaka sends his daughter to the prestigious Federal Girls’ Secondary School, Owerri.

  On his hospital sick bed and unable to buy medicines required to treat him, Akalaka tells his only daughter the sum total of his hard, fruitless life and his ambition for her, “My life has been a struggle. I don’t want you to go down the same path, my daughter… I have five portions of land in Umuba… My plan is to sell outright one of the remaining three portions to raise money for you to finish at FGSS next year. What is left I will use to start you off at university”.

  Unfortunately, Akalaka dies within a few hours after making this crucial provision for her daughter’s future. With the death of Akalaka, Chira is unable to continue her education. Her uncle denies her access to her father’s lands; she drops out of school a year before she finishes. If life has been hard before her father’s death, Chira finds things far worse after. She doesn’t just drop out of school, she and her mother are unable to fend for themselves. Akalaka’s death drains her mother of her vitality and she gradually succumbs to hypertension.

  Having dropped out of school, Chira has no other option but to look for a job. But jobs, as in other places and Enugu, are hard to come by. She tramps the streets endlessly. Her friend, Ogom, is from an affluent home, whom she met at FGSS. Ogom is the light-headed type and so Chira helps her out. In return, Chira gets help from Ogom to supplement her lean purse, as she does not get enough from home.

  Not even the prospect of marrying Maks, a rich man, to rescue Chira and her mother from the grip of poverty changes anything. Maks is as mean as they come; his chauvinism is such that denies women any form of personal development. He is uneducated and so does not see any need for his wife to go to university, as Chira aspires. But Chira is a of proud female stock, who believes in personal development; she has her teacher back at FGSS, Miss K to thank for her independence of mind that Maks seeks to deny her. In spite of her poverty, Chira sticks to her guns. Unlike her friend, Ogom, she will not marry any man just to escape poverty. Marriage, according to her, should be made of more than a man’s dubious riches.

  Her friend, who precipitously rushes into marriage to escape school, finds to her horror in the United States the other side of life; her man, Chikeson is married to an arranged American wife, who threatens to report Chikeson to the authorities if he ditches her. Ogom is stranded on arriving Washington but for a fellow woman, who had her own dark past with her man, and who eventually rehabilitates Ogom.

  In spite of her mother’s pressure, Chira refuses to marry Maks for his overbearing nature. But Chira is a determined young woman, made even more astute by the poverty that is threatening to annihilate her and her mother. She finds redemption in Dr. Agali, who believes in her and offers her a job in a computer place. Chira would have to be taught first before she can perform her duties. Dr. Agali is Chira’s God-sent.

  It’s also through Dr. Agali that Chira eventually finds a ray of hope for a future she has dreamt so much about. It comes at the crucial moment of her mother’s death.

  Okoye’s The Fourth World is a searing indictment of the world’s warped socio-economic arrangement that leaves the world’s vast population in abject want and without any means of improving themselves. Kasanga Avenue in Enugu is the Ajegunle slum in Lagos and several other such ghettos and shanties the world over, where the inhabitants are at the mercy of an unfair economic order that they cannot understand or overcome.

  As the author notes, “The residents of Kasanga Avenue came from different parts of the country. They were no longer divided by their different languages. They were no longer divided by their different religions. They were no longer divided by their different ethnic origins. They had learnt from experience - sad and enduring experience – that their enemies were not one another; their real enemies are unemployment, meager earnings, hunger, disease, an unhealthy environment and poor housing. They had learnt that their survival depended on their solidarity and so they had fused into one indivisible community”.

  Hunger, diseases and untimely death from natural calamities are some of the daily routines, as people watch their lives wasting away before their own eyes. Two children of Chira’s next-door neighbor are knocked down by hit and run vehicle, when they went hawking banana to supplement their mother’s meager earning; the only son of another woman is swept away in floodwater. Life is hard, short and brutish on Kasanga Avenue, as in all such communities.

  For Okoye, however, it’s Chira’s indomitable spirit that calls for celebration. Her ambition to go farther in life is all-consuming; it’s what matters and the driving purpose of her life. But her challenges are enormous – hunger dodges her heels like fate. In all her travails, Dr. Agali and Mirror Head and Jude, the patent medicine dealer on Kasanga Avenue, are her signposts that a better future is possible. They embody the hope that she carries in her heart.

  One other salient point in Okoye’s narrative The Fourth World is the use of proverbs. While legendary Chinua Achebe pioneered the use of proverbs, as forceful narrative ingredients, Okoye takes the art to certain level of philosophical aplomb. Akalaka uses proverbs deftly to situate his luckless life; his daughter, Chira, usually recalls her father’s proverbs, using the wry humour in them to explain the complex and difficult world of poverty she finds herself mired.

  Okoye’s simple narrative structure is alluring and makes The Fourth World accessible to all levels of readers. However, her use of the past participle ‘had’ is too frequent and sometimes drags down the narrative. For instance, ‘had’ in this sentence is avoidable: “Chira remembered the situation that had made her father quote this proverb to her mother”, but perfect in the part of the next sentence, “He had been talking about their landlord…”

  This minor infraction, however, does not affect the down-to-earth narrative Okoye has given her readers. This novel is highly recommended for all levels of political leadership, these denizens, who pretend to rule the rest of us so they know the many bright dreams that their misrule daily abort on the streets!

Roll call of Africa’s pioneering icons at Etisalat prize award

By Anote Ajeluorou

ON Sunday, at The Marquee, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, Elnathan John’s wish for African writers came through. As a shortlisted writer in The Caine Prize for African Writing, John had voiced his frustration for making African literatry laureates outside.

  So last Sunday, it was in Lagos, and not London or Paris or New York that a winner for the maiden edition of Etisalat Prize for Literature for first fiction book emerged on African soil. She is the petit Zimbabwean novelist, NoViolet Bulawayo; she won with her critically acclaimed book, We Need New Names. She had won The Caine Prize in 2011, with ‘Hitting Budapest’, a modified short story excerpt from her current book, a few years ago.

  It wasn’t a surprise win as such. We Need New Names was in the longlist in The Booker Prize in 2013, England’s famous prize contest, as the first African woman to be so appraised.

  An elated Bulawayo specially thanked the judges, patrons, and Etisalat Nigeria for the award and for the opportunity the Etisalat Prize for Literature afforded her, saying, "I am thankful to the organizers of this event, Etisalat Nigeria for this most excellent and necessary prize. We are all aware of the shortage of literary prizes and it is heart-warming to know that Etisalat Nigeria sees and values the significance of such literary works in Africa".

  She was also presented with an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen, a Samsung Galaxy Note. As part of the prize’s pecks, Bulawayo will attend the Etisalat Fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia and be mentored by Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland. She will also have book tours in three African cities and get the chance to start work on her second book.

  But the prize award went farther than merely announcing the winner from a shortlist of three. In celebrating new and additional authors to the pantheon of African literary canvas, it gave due recognition to pioneering literary icons in the continent, past and present. In a section tagged ‘Write of Passage’, with soft music in the background, the pioneer writers were given credit for their immense roles in lighting the way for those coming behind to see to the future nurturing of a continent’s creative imagination.

  Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (first Ghanaian novelist), Naquib Mahfouz (Egypt and first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize), DO Fagunwa (Nigeria and pioneer Yoruba writer), Sol T. Plaatje (first South African novelist), Camara Laye (Guinea) and Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe. Other living pioneers given credit included Nadine Gordimer (South African and only African female Nobel Prize winner), Ngugu wa Thiong’o (Kenyan) and Nurudeen Farah (Somalia).

  Sadly, black Africa’s first Nobel Prize winner, Wole Soyinka wasn’t included in the line-up of writers for recognition. This also goes for an important group that was jumped over for a much younger generation. The Odia Ofeimun, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare, Kole Omotoso, Tanure Ojaide group didn’t feature before focus was shifted to the Ben Okri (Nigeria), Chimamanda Adichie (Nigeria), Tstsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) and Alain Mabanckou’s (DR Congo) group.

 The two runners-up, all females, were Nigeria’s Yewande Omotoso (Bom Boy) and South Africa’s Kareen Jenning (Southbek). This prize has also thrown up the women as being masters of the literary craft at the continental level. For a debut prize to have an all-female shortlist cast is salute to women’s creative ingenuity and a significant shift in the literary power equation. Omotosho and Jenning were also presented with Samsung Galaxy notes. They will also go on book tour of two African cities.

  Bulawayo’s win and the dominance of women in this prize is continuation of the literary trend in the last few years both in Nigeria and Africa-wise. In 2012, South Africa’s Sifiso Mzobe squeezed past two other women –Nigeria’s Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo (Roses and Bullets) and another South African, Bridget Pitt (The Unseen Leopard) to win the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. That same year, Chika Unigwe won The Nigerian Prize for Literature with On Black Sisters Street. Only last year, Dr. Ogochukwu Promise was in the shortlist of three as she contested keenly against Amu Nnadi and the eventual winner, Tade Ipadeola in the same prize. Nigeria’s Chenelo Okparanta (‘America’) vied against three other Nigerians and one Sierra Leonean in The Caine Prize in which Tope Folarin won with ‘Miracle’.

  This is how far Africa’s female writers have come, and the future looks bright for them, as they continue to push their creative vision to the front row.

  Also, another female writer, Uche Okonkwo won with ‘Neverland’ in the Flash Fiction Prize category and went away with 1000 British Pounds plus other valuable items.

  Earlier, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Willsher reaffirmed his company’s commitment to arts and their capacity of the arts to affect society positively. He noted that the Etisalat Prize for Literature was designed “to recognize and reward debut writers of fiction in Africa, with the objective of discovering new creative talents from Africa and promoting the bludgeoning publishing industry in Africa.

  "As a rite of passage, published and unpublished literary works of art have been passed down from generation to generation in Africa. Etisalat Nigeria is indeed pleased to celebrate all authors in the African literary spectrum. As such, Etisalat Nigeria is proud to use its maiden pan-African Prize for Literature to recognize and celebrate the amazing work done by these unique individuals”.

  Renowned Ghanaian author, Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo, awarded the Flash Fiction prize to Okonkwo and commented on the growing significance of the genre in world literature on account of the popularity of the internet.

  Senegalese music star and former tourism and culture minister capped a remarkable event with a sterling performance.