•ANA signs MOU with Wikipedia
The Association of Nigerian Authors took a giant step in establishing a writers’ village in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, when a delegation, led by the national president, Dr. Usman Akanbi, and the chairman of the Lagos chapter, Dr. Olatunbosun Taofeek, paid a courtesy visit to the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, at the Iga Idunganran Palace in Lagos Island recently. ANA also signed an MOU with Wikipedia Nigeria (Wikimedia) the same day in the latter’s Ikeja, Lagos, office.
Dr. Akanbi told the Oba that ANA’s mandate included but not limited to preserving and promoting Nigerian literary culture and creating a thriving and flourishing ecosystem where writers could flourish. He reminded the king that the association was founded by pioneer Nigerian writers, led by Chinua Achebe, and had continued to serve the interests of Nigerian writers till date.
He said he would like the Lagos chapter of the association to have a writers’ village in the city, one of the most important cities in the country and Africa. “Writing is the bedrock of the arts in Lagos. It is a bit surprising that a big association like ANA doesn’t have a writers’ village in Lagos, where writing and culture would flourish. We are looking forward to having such a place in Lagos. We believe, with your prayer and support, we can get a ground to build a writers’ village in Lagos.” He promised to partner with the Oba of Lagos to develop a website to document the Lagos royal family as a giveback.
No doubt, the Lagos chairman, Olatunbosun Taofeek, is living his dream. Born in Lagos, Taofeek told the Oba, when he was elected the chairman of the Lagos chapter, he came up with the idea for the Lagos Writers’ Village. He explained that the essence of the visit was to acquaint him as the father of Lagosians of the necessity of having a writers’ village in Lagos and seeing how he could use his power to help make it come to fruition.”
Taofeek reminded the revered king: “Shakespeare was one of the products that the English people put together and presented to the world, and, today, he is one of the hard currencies the English people have. So, if that could be replicated by us in Nigeria, and, precisely, those of us from Western Nigeria, by building the writers’ village, it isn’t only going to help those of us writing currently in Nigeria but other coming generations and they will see it as a legacy that will help them.”
He told him about the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village in Abuja, bequeathed by Major General Mamman Vatsa during the Ibrahim Babangida military regime, which, in Africa today, was the only of its kind. Vatsa, initially, gave 62 hectares to ANA to develop, but it was reduced after the Obasanjo government and land developers appropriated some portions for development.
“I am looking at a situation where such can be replicated in Lagos,” he said, “and since Lagos is a commercial centre, one of the foremost cities in Africa, Lagos should be able to provide a writers’ village where other writers from Oxford, Cambridge and different parts of Africa should come to Africa and patronise, which can only be aided by the palace and the traditional institution, which owns lands in Lagos and politicians in Lagos. He described Lagos as a major tourist destination in Nigeria.”
He added that the village would also be beneficial to coming generations of scribblers: “Our young writers, even in Lagos, are not getting the expected opportunities that come with having a writers’ village. They are more exposed to other artworks. When it comes to writing, it is more difficult, because there is no designated place where they can visit or see other old writers coming to or where they can have conferences and workshops, which the writers’ village is going to do for these writers who are coming and want to take writing as their trade.”
In his response, the Lagos Oba said the suggestion made by ANA would be considered. According to him, “This is the kind of thing the society and Lagos would look up to. I hope you are coming with a genuine mind in order to pursue this kind of dream, not at the end of the day, you will see people fighting over money. If not the case, this is the kind of dream that is welcome in Lagos. And without anybody giving anything to anybody, the spirit and the power that makes Lagos prosperous and the foremost city in Nigeria will make this dream come to pass.
“I would advise you to look at the Epe axis in Lagos, because there is still space where this kind of village can be built. Any support I can render as a father, I will do,” he said, stressing that it was a worthy project the Lagos State Government could look into in order to attract foreign writers and tourists. He called on Nigerians to support the Tinubu administration to achieve its goals.
The Association of Nigerian Authors has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Wikipedia Nigeria Foundation (Wikimedia) to enhance the visibility of its members and their activities through capacity-building training. A brainchild of the Lagos chapter of the association, Dr Olatunbosun said the partnership would increase the online presence and visibility for ANA members. It would also ensure capacity-building training and workshops to enhance members’ skills by Wikipedia, as well as embark on public advocacy campaigns to promote the interests of writers.
Ambassador Olusola Olaniyan, the manager of Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation, welcomed the idea and vowed to collaborate with writers. “Sincerely speaking, if there is a partnership that ought to have engaged right from when we started, it ought to have been with ANA, because Wikipedia is a wealth of knowledge written by human beings – Ai is written by computers – a knowledge with a human face. It is also the biggest online interface across the globe. It has about 4.4 billion viewers accessing it on a monthly basis. Having 4.4 billion viewers out of 7.5 billion people in the world, means we need to do our work strategically in a manner we can be at the forefront and not the rear. So this is one of the beginnings of such.”
He revealed two key challenges faced by Wikipedia to include sourcing good writers and quality information on Wikipedia. “When you have corrupt people and not quality contributors being at the forefront of an idea, it is either it begins to have poor information and fake news. Now that we want to engage authors, who are born writers, that means we are bringing quality contributors to serve as the face of Wikipedia. First, we have to start with capacity development by putting them through how our platform works.
“The second aspect of it, which is also contained in the MOU, is ‘writing’. There is nothing you can’t read in Wikipedia, except what is not encyclopedic. Wikipedia is not a news tabloid. It is a platform that records the trend of facts. We have to develop different workshops. One of them could be to document all the books written in Nigeria, at least have an overview of what the books look like. Authors are notable people. We want to document as many notable authors as possible. We are going to teach you what makes an author or an event notable. Last but not least is public advocacy.”
He noted part of the Nigerian copyright laws was inimical to authors. The restriction to the Freedom of Panorama in Nigeria is one of them. If this amendment is real, all authors are in trouble. Restriction to the Freedom of Panorama is saying that, for any copyrighted item in public space, you must take permission from the owner, except you show you can’t make money out of it. What this means is, if you take a photo in public space without informing the owner of the property and put it in a book, you have violated the law. How many of our writers are aware of this?
“We need to form an alliance and let the government come down on some of these things. There is also a provision in the copyright law that says, when a copyrighted item is published, you need 70 years after the death of the owner of the work to use it in your book. This needs to be reduced so that you will have good items to use in your books.”
Dr. Akanbi said he was delighted Lagos ANA was championing this noble cause for Nigerian writers, a chapter that was sitting on the fence when he took over as ANA president. He promised to invite the Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation to the ANA convention in Abuja later in the year to sensitise Nigerian writers on Wikipedia’s plans for writers. The delegation to both places also had Chimnemezu Nwaeze (Secretary, ANA Lagos) and Dr Tolu Ajayi (former ANA Lagos Chairman) in attendance.