They say all work without rest makes Jack a dull boy. This adage dovetailed into what obtained during the 3-day eventful strategic planning workshop of the Association of Nigerian authors which took place in Akwanga, Nasarawa state.
Declaring the workshop open, the Deputy Governor of the state, Hon. Silas Ali Agaa, who was represented by the Commissioner of science and technology, prayed that the workshop resulted into a successful deliberation that would turn out to be in the best interest of the state and the country as a whole.
However, before the opening ceremony of the workshop, the participants had already girded up their loins into the strategic deliberations before a comic relief sort of was ushered in by the intervention of the Akwanga’s royal father, the Chu-Mada III, HRH Samson Gamu Yare, who was accompanied by the Mada cultural troupes who danced and danced to the thrill of everyone.
Most of the participant writers were inadvertently caught in the frenzy of the Mada dance, while others couldn’t help but joined in the dance.
Impressed by this, during his address, the Chun Mada pledged to host any of these writers during the next year’s Mada Festival celebration.
The Royal Father therefore tasked the writers to come up with literatures, by way of novels, poetry or even film, about the natural resource and the rich cultural heritage, and the entire gift of nature that is located in Nasarawa state.
“I am excited because ANA has decided to host its workshop in our land, more so because it chose a son of the soil to be its consultant. Therefore, I am ready to partner with any writer that comes up with a manuscript about the culture of the Mada people,” the traditional ruler revealed.
Earlier, the president of ANA, Denja Abdullahi, expressed gratitude by the presence of the Mada chief, saying “We writers are agents of culture. We are located in the cultural industry. We writers that are gathered here are people that value relationship.
We must confess that Akwanga, the Mada people are a very welcoming people and they are also culturally rooted.”
He added: “We deliberately choose this environment because we have at the back of our minds that this is an environment of peace, enormous hospitality. We chose Akwanga because of the uniqueness of the place.”