Dr. Camillus Ukah, President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) says the association plans to provide 40,000 creative literature books to secondary schools to encourage reading culture in the country.
Ukah, who said this on Friday at the Opening Ceremony of the 40th Anniversary of ANA/Annual Convention in Abuja, said that the purpose was also to engage students beyond their regular academic works.
“The Association, as part of the celebrations of the landmark occasion, plans to flood Nigeria’s reading space with 40,000 creative literature books from twenty select titles belonging to members of the association.
“The books will be used as basic materials to set up forty ANA literary creativity centres in secondary schools across the country.
“The project will run as part of the ten-city event already programmed to mark the anniversary,” ANA boss said.
He said that four secondary schools were targeted with one thousand books each in the ten cities.
“ANA Literary Creativity Centre is a literati outfit designed to facilitate A Book-A Child-A Week Project- one of ANA’s frontline literary campaign projects.
“This is designed to encourage every Nigerian school child to read at least one general interest and character-defining creative literature text every week.
“Furthermore, the idea behind this noble project is to create an enabling environment within and beyond school hours, premises and situation for the necessary platform and opportunity for students to engage themselves beyond their regular academic works.
“And the authors they read each week, to introduce them to different worlds, (albeit fictional), touch their lives, and engender true and lasting friendship between them.
“And possibly the various Authors, and by extension, better and purpose driven youth life,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, lauded Mamman Vatsa Writers Village developed by the association.
Na’Allah urged Nigerian authors to make use of the edifice to improve literary works in the country. (NAN)
