By Felicia Imohimi
Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji, Vice-Chancellor of the African School of Economics, (the Pan-African University of Excellence), says literature have to be intentionally built-in into nationwide safety and peacebuilding insurance policies.
Adedimeji made the advice whereas delivering the keynote deal with on the forty fifth Annual International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in Abuja.
The conference is themed: “Literature, National Security and the Place of Nigeria in the World”.
He mentioned the inventive business and the humanities, which translate into motion pictures and productions, must be channelled in the direction of constructing a peaceable and secure nation, not simply profitable awards and making revenue.
According to him, collaborations must be cast in such a method that understanding of insecurity incorporates the narratives, grievances, cultural identities and social experiences of affected communities.
He famous that peacebuilding begins the place the idea that safety is solely the absence of preventing ends, including {that a} society might expertise no energetic warfare and nonetheless include deep constructions of hostility.
“Peace requires institutions, justice and economic opportunity, but it also requires communication,” he mentioned.
Adedimeji mentioned authorities should recognise that good governance is itself a safety technique.
“No amount of literary intervention can compensate for persistent injustice, corruption, unemployment, poverty and institutional failure.
“Leaders at all levels must demonstrate through their actions that every Nigerian has dignity, value and a stake in the national project,” he mentioned.
He additional really helpful that literature and the humanities on the whole should obtain acceptable consideration within the nation’s instructional system.
He mentioned studying, writing, important considering, moral reasoning, civic consciousness and intercultural understanding must be central to the event of accountable residents.
“The world is in turmoil today because guided weapons are controlled by misguided people and we emphasise the quantitative aspects of science and technology at the expense of the human heart and social condition,” he mentioned.
Adedimeji known as for strengthening of the publishing and studying ecosystem, including that extra awards and encouragement are wanted for writers.
“Public and school libraries should be adequately funded. Nigerian authors should enjoy stronger institutional support, while the protection of intellectual property should be strengthened.
“As a matter of fact, books should be treated with respect in a country that aspires to thrive in a global knowledge economy,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the nation should deploy literature in peace training and nationwide integration.
“Our educational institutions should encourage students to read works from different Nigerian communities and African societies.
“Literary festivals, inter-school debates, drama competitions and cultural exchanges should be promoted as instruments of social cohesion,” he mentioned.
He added that literary competitions may encourage younger folks to have interaction with peace, citizenship and coexistence with out dictating conclusions, whereas theatre can assist neighborhood dialogue.
“Nigerian literature should be promoted more extensively through embassies, universities and international cultural programmes but the cardinal principle must remain freedom,” he mentioned.
He additionally urged funding within the globalisation of Nigerian cultural merchandise.
“International literary exchanges, publishing partnerships, digital distribution and cultural diplomacy should become deliberate elements of our foreign policy,” he mentioned.
He urged universities to guide interdisciplinary analysis by creating platforms the place literature, safety research, worldwide relations, political science, communication, psychology and growth research intersect.
“The days of living in academic silos are gone.
“Scholars need to research how narratives influence radicalisation, how language shapes conflict, how literature promotes reconciliation and how cultural diplomacy strengthens international influence,” he mentioned.
“I call on Nigerians to re-embrace reading culture, saying reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.
“A reading country is a leading country and groups, associations and societies should revive reading clubs to broaden horizons and deepen insights beyond the chatter of social media,” he mentioned.
He mentioned nationwide safety finally concerned defending greater than territory, however defending the circumstances inside which individuals can dwell significant lives collectively.
According to him, Nigeria’s safety disaster can’t be addressed by weapons alone as a result of a lot of it originates within the realm of human relationships.
“There are crises of trust, citizenship, belonging, justice, memory and identity alongside terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and violent crime, all of which point to the centrality of human security as an approach to guaranteeing national security.
“Literature operates within this human terrain. It records what official memory forgets.
“It asks questions that political convenience may suppress and it allows societies to confront painful histories.
“It creates opportunities to encounter strangers imaginatively as human beings and exposes injustice before injustice becomes normal,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the connection between literature and nationwide safety is structural, including {that a} nation is secured at a couple of stage.
“Its borders must be secured; its people must be secured; its institutions must be secured and its information environment must be protected.
“But its imagination must also be secured against hatred, intolerance, manipulation and the dangerous conviction that some Nigerians are more Nigerian than other Nigerians,” he mentioned.(NAN)
FUA/EMAF
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Edited by Emmanuel Afonne
