Niger state: Birthing a literary festival for teen artists

NIFESTEENA (Nigerian Festival of Teen Authors) is a new literary festival for teen authors/artists from all the states of the federation and Abuja where schools sent in participants to compete among themselves in different events for laurels.
The maiden edition took place in Niger state from 20th – 23rd April, 2017. It was a 4-day event held at the Niger State College of Education, Minna. The following states attended the maiden edition: Kebbi, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Abuja, Taraba, Lagos, Nassarawa and Niger State.
The festival was organised by the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundationwith its headquarters in Minna, Niger State. Since 1997, the foundation which has a mentoring facility in Niger state has being in the vanguard of promoting teen authorship in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.
NIFESTEENA is subsumed into three stages spread over a year.  The maiden edition commence in January 2016. The first stage targets publishing twelve teen authors in 2016 in readiness for the festival. The second stage sought to gather books from communities in a programme called Naija Book Hunt and Harvest for redistribution to schools at the finals of the event. Over 2, 000 books were gathered and distributed.

The essence is to encourage reading on a day the UN declares as the World Book Day. A total of 21 schools benefited from the scheme.The stage three is the main festival. It is the main event comprising of contests in poetry writing, short story writing, play writing, painting, photography, spoken word, performance poetry.
At the opening ceremony, the founder of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation; BM Dzukogi espoused the reason behind NIFESTEENA as thus: “After decades of promoting the idea of teen authorship around the country, NIFESTEENA becomes a national platform where products are to be showcased annually from all the states of the federation through contests, exhibitions and discourses.”

He said that the “idea is to inculcate in the child from school age the internalisation of the creative spirit as the primary element for developing the society; to proliferate the society with quality thinkers; provide a national platform for unifying the Nigerian child through creativity.”
He stated further that “the primary philosophy of the Nigerian Teen Authorship Scheme and NIFESTEENA is to tune and retune the mind of the student-writer (teen author) towards becoming a wholesome individual/thinker in the society through literary art. We also want them to become excellent writers of tomorrow.

The major departure from the ‘false assumption’ of writing for children and the new genre we are propagating is that, under the teen authorship scheme, the child-writer speaks perfectly to his mates as well as to adults. He speaks to the society about his conditions; dysfunctionalities of wars, rape, malnutrition, hunger, lack of shelter, lack of education, irregular upbringing, poor leadership, and environment.
He speaks about his rights blocked by adults who largely think that he has little to contribute to decision-making at home and in school. He speaks not just about his well-being but about his environment as a whole and his desires for the future as an adult, and of the present. The child, before now, does little or no contribution to policies of government, homes, organisations, schools, orphanages, hospitals, infrastructure, sports and all.

He therefore called on the Niger state government to seize the opportunity to use NIFESTEENA as a brand to promote creativity.
On his part, Prof. E. E. Sule who was the Keynote Speaker, acknowledged the contribution of Niger state, especially the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation in the development of literature in Nigeria
He said: “Teenage authorship must be understood as a manifestation of talents. There is no writer who is not talented. There is no writer who did not show the talent to write in her childhood, in her teenage.
“It therefore follows that teenage authorship is a talent-manifesting, talent-recognising and talent-producing process that ensures writers are identified early, given a special guide and set on the right path towards becoming great writers of their time.

This is what a group of persons, led by B M Dzukogi, a notable poet and essayist, have dedicated their lives to over a period of years now. This is what is institutionalised in the Hilltop Arts Foundation and partly in Niger State Books and Other Intellectual Resource Development Agency. It is noteworthy in this regards that Niger State remains the only state in Nigeria that has systematised and institutionalised teen authorship, something that all Nigerlites should be very proud of, something that should attract enormous supports from government and institutions in Niger State.
“Niger State, in particular the city of Minna, is the indisputable Mecca of creative arts and artists in northern Nigeria. Writers from all parts of the north are drawn to its magical narrative and space, home to Abubakar Imam, famous for Magana Jari Ce, home to the great Abubakar Gimba who, more than anyone else, aestheticises the artistic soul of the state.
The Commissioner of Education, Niger state, Hajiya Madugu promised to get the state government to help upgrade the foundation’s mentoring facility situated in one of the public schools in Minna.
The 4-day event saw a mentoring session and workshop organised for the teen artists for the production of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Anthology of Teen Authors.

The young artists also paid a visit to Cyprian Ekwensi Library and the Niger State Book Development Agency. There was also a book chat session with established writers and publishers. The nights of performances were electrifying with teenagers doing exactly what adult-artists do, perhaps, better.
Ahmed Maiwada as the Guest Speaker commended the foundation for weathering the storm of recession to organise a big event.
He said: “Hosting and catering for such number of teenagers for three or so days is no mean task by all standards. But you did it. It is my hope therefore that history (if not anyone else) shall remember this and do justice where the need arises.

“I want to congratulate the parents of the teen authors, who caught the passion of the Hill-Top Arts Foundation to the extent of gaining the confidence to sponsor their children and wards and permit then to travel from various states of this nation, stay for these few days in Minna in order to compete among their peers.”
He called for more sponsorship of the event; “I would expect to see more sponsors as well, especially sponsors from the organised private sectors of the economy. I would expect to see government sponsorships. In organising this event, the Hill-Top Art Foundation has shown that Nigerian youth – in addition to music, film and sports, are also interested in matters concerning creativity; this Festival is a proof beyond all reasonable doubt.

“Therefore, it is more than high time that the various Ministries and Departments of Youth, Sport and Culture at all levels stopped this vexing attitude of staying aloof and away from an noble attempt such as this one by a passionate body called Hill-Top Arts Foundation, towards developing the young human resources of this country. Necessary corporate and State sponsorships for the successful hosting of creative events, particularly in favour of the youth, must not be lacking.” Prof Faruk agreed and offered to do more for the foundation.
At the end of the festival the following teen authors emerged winners:

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