THE COAL CITY: SPARKLING WITH ENTHUSIASM TO HOST NIGERIAN WRITERS IN
OCTOBER 2019
There is room
to breathe in Independence Layout, a highbrow section of Enugu, the Coal City.
The good network of well paved streets keep swallowing and spewing out vehicles
all day long with no hold ups. Located right in the heart of Enugu, the place
was primarily carved out to mark Nigeria’s independence, and it is today the
soul of Enugu state government business, housing the headquarters of the three
arms of government namely the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary as
well as the state’s radio and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). It is,
therefore, not surprising that this place has won the locational honour for the
highly anticipated Association of Nigerian Author’s International Convention
holding in the Coal City between 31st October and 3rd November, 2019.
Preparatory
to the Coal City Homecoming 2019
Convention, members of the National EXCO including the Vice-President Camillus
Uka, Ernest Onuoha, ex-officio and Maik Ortserga, Asst. General Secretary, were
in Independence Layout for two days last weekend to meet with members of the Local Organizing
Committee (LOC) and verify their level of preparedness by confirming the venues
and the recommended hotels for guests’ accommodations.
In a meeting
with the LOC led by its Chairman, the resourceful Hon. Ndubuisi Ene and the
meticulous Enugu chapter Chairman, Comrade Zulu Ofoelue at the African Thinker’s College of Education, the National
Exco was not left in doubt that Enugu was ready for the 2019 Convention. Some
of the already confirmed venues are as follows:
Arrival/Opening Ceremony, AGM and
Convention Play will
be at TETfund Hall, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu which
will be the main ensue for Convention
activities.
Closing Dinner will be at Ofu-Obi African Centre in
addition to welcome cocktail/ festival of life
Options for Tourism: at Ngwo Pine Forest (Picnic featuring
poetry and palm wine), Centre for memories or Enugu Museum.
Convention Play: Denja Abdullahi’s Death and the King’s Grey Hair has been
selected as the Convention Play to honour the President whose tenure will come
to an end.
Other levels
of Preparations include:
Shuttle Buses: There are arrangements on ground
with transporters like Peace Mass Transits for shuttle buses that will be on
standby to convey delegates to and fro in the course of the events, in the hope
that most of the delegates will join the company’s buses as they travel back to
their home states after the convention
Convention Clinic: There are arrangements for a mobile
Convention Clinic and a standby ambulance
Food/ Drinks: NBA has been contacted, although the
declined the request for funding due to their mandatory policy of one-year
prior notice, they agreed to supply drinks for delegates during the Convent
Security: The LOC is making arrangements with
all the security agencies to ensure the provision of adequate security during
the convention, giving the current security challenges across the country.
Websites: A website www.anacoalcity.com
has been developed specifically for information about the convention
Bill boards: The LOC is also putting up bill
boards in strategic locations to create awareness about the Convention.
Accommodation: Concerning the issue of guests’
accommodation, the LOC has engaged with hotel owners at three levels which
include: (1) approaching the hotels and negotiating with them for discounted
rates (2) Entering into partnership with the hotels and providing them a
platform to link their details and adverts to the website www.anacoalcity.com (3) putting up a red-carpet with all
the recommended hotels on it during the event.
Almost all
the hotels are located in Independence Layout less than ten minutes from any
angle. Negotiations for rates by the LOC are still on-going an information on
discounted rates will continuously be updated on the website www.anacoalcity.com
Signed
Maik Ortserga
ANA Ass. Gen.
Secretary
