A renowned writer and professor of Africa Literature and Creative Writing, Zainab Alkali, has emphasised the imperative for arts to rank as one of the best sources of wealth-creation “using creative arts forms as tool for national development.”
Prof. Alkali stated this in a lecture delivered at the 2nd Abubakar Gimba lecture series organised by the Centre for Arts and Indigenous Studies (CAIS) of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai on Thursday to mark its intellectual and cultural day.
Paying respect to the former president of the Association of Nigeria Authors (ANA) and renowned author, the late Abubakar Gimba, Prof. Alkali described him as “a brother and colleague” who fought the battle for the recognition of women rights during his life time.
“I am especially delighted for this opportunity to pay my respect to my dear brother and colleague, Alhaji Abubakar Gimba; a gentleman and a prolific writer. Together, my brother and I fought a battle for the recognition of women rights in our society.”
Also speaking, the vice-chancellor of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai, Prof. Abu Kasim Adamu, said the university had decided to keep honouring the late Abubakar Gimba with the lecture series.
“The late Abubakar Gimba contributed immensely to the establishment and development of the university as the chairman of its evaluation and implementation committee before becoming the first chairman of council of our great university.
“We at IBBUL believe that the role of the creative arts in national development cannot be over-emphasised and that is why we established the Centre for Arts and Indigenous Studies (CAIS)
