allAfrica.com: Nigeria: We Were Surprised That Writers Were Included in Censorship

Nigeria: We Were Surprised That Writers Were Included in Censorship - Kano Deputy Governor

A time in life comes when you don't have to give to Caesar what-rightly or wrongfully - belongs to Caesar, you would want to give it all to God, now is the time. The writers in Kano, and indeed of the whole country and in Diaspora, gave it all to God and received His blessings manifold.

This was when the ongoing tug of war between them and the Kano State Censorship Board was settled amicably through the timely intervention of first, the Director General of Kano State Adaidaita Sahu (Societal Re-Orientation Agency), Dr. Bala Muhammad, and Alhaji Garba Yusuf, the Commissioner for Environment, and most importantly, the Kano State Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad. All this took place when a powerful delegation of a team of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) from Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, and the National Executives, headed by the National President of ANA paid him a courtesy call early last week.

The Director, Planning, started with the opening prayer, followed by the introduction of the leader of the delegation, Hon. Dr. Wale Okediran, by the Press Secretary of the Deputy Governor. In his speech, the Kano State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad, welcomed the National President of ANA and his entourage. He identified ANA as a household name and the writers in Kano as partners in progress, and promised to assist in the planned workshop to be organised by the Kano State Censorship Board in collaboration with ANA. The Deputy Governor also said, "We allow for freedom of speech. This government is a media-friendly government, and we are always extending our hand of friendship towards writers, to enlighten our downtrodden masses. Thus, there is no reason for us to quarrel; we were surprised when we learnt that writers were included in the censorship."

In his speech, the President of ANA stressed the importance of the Kano State chapter of ANA and other writers in Kano as dedicated and steadfast in their literary activities, stating that "Kano ANA, because of its very rich literacy history as epitomised by the prolific output of English and Hausa literature by its members, has a special place among Nigerians writers at home and abroad. It is expected therefore that whatever affects Kano ANA also affects Nigerian writers." At the end of the visit to the Deputy Governor by local and national writers, his Excellency, the Kano State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad, invited the ANA president and his team to visit the water project in Tambarawa and other historic places in Kano.

The Association of Nigerian Authors, in collaboration with Hausa Authors Forum (HAF), Hausa Writers Association of Nigeria (HAWAN), Brigade Authors Forum (HAF), and Kallabi Writers, had earlier on paid a similar visit to the Kano State Censorship Board. The Director General of the Board welcomed the writers warmly, and promised to work with the writers in finding a lasting solution with regards to the issue of censorship.

In his address to the Director General of the Censorship Board, the ANA President stressed the importance of the literary genres in Kano: "Our special fondness for Kano's literary traditions brings us to the continuous issue of censorship". He said, "Let me say that as writers, we believe that every writer is conditioned by his /her education, experience, belief, ideology, and of course his environment. All these unite in various mix to shape whatever he or she writes in form and content. This means that our members in Kano have always been aware of their responsibilities in producing reasonable literature against the background of the socio-religious persuasion of their immediate society. It is also important [to note] that even though our writers in Kano ANA are based in Kano, their target audience just like that of every writer goes beyond the geographical boundaries of their immediate environment...the whole world is also their stage."

The deliberations led to the agreement (reported last week on Bookshelf) that publishers, marketers and writers' associations would provide the Kano State Censorship Board with members and book lists, and to look into grey areas of the KSCB Law on censorship. The individual registration of members was shelved away by the Board as the National body of ANA also rejected the idea of censoring authors.

It is expected that the workshop for government officials and writers in the state, whcih shall take place in October this year will tackle those grey areas that formed the basis of misunderstanding between the Board and writers and the Law will be forwarded to the State House of Assembly for amendment. The communiqué released after that meeting was jointly signed by the National President of ANA and the Director General of the Kano State Censorship Board.

Maryam is a creative writer

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