2016 Scorecard of Pragmatic Deliverables: The Denja Abdullahi’s ANA Presidency at a Glance

SCORECARD OF PRAGMATIC DELIVERABLES- 2016: THE DENJA ABDULLAHI’S ANA PRESIDENCY AT A GLANCE

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. The following are the delivery of both National Executive Councils under the leadership of Denja Abdullahi in 2016:

2016.

• ·        Formation of strategic councils, panels and committees at its inaugural meeting held on the 9^th 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 2 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 5^th Meeting of the National Executive  Council  with chairmen and secretaries of chapters which held in Ilorin on the 9^th of April,2016. A monitoring process was put in place, leading to a nationwide ANA/Yusuf Ali nationwide literary awareness campaign, with a special focus on tertiary institutions, held by the chapters given the grants.
• ·        ANA was in the 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 26^th 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 25^th of February,2016 and in the launching of a book by its patron ,Yusuf Ali, in Abuja on 17^th 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 3^rd 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).The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Film category at the 14^th Abuja International Film Festival which recently concluded in October,2017.
• ·        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(2017-2012) that was presented to the public at the 35^th Anniversary International Convention of the Association which held in Abuja in October,2016.
• ·        The President of ANA empanelled 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 4^th 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 21^st of September, 2016. A fall out of that visit was the attendance of ANA’s 35^th 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, Awo-Ommama, near 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 35^th 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 35^th 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 35^th 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 70^th 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 organizations 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, Lagos, Enugu, Imo  and Ogun States at various times within the years under review.