Ibraheem Musa
9 July 2009
Kaduna — Dr Abubakar Imam, the late literary giant was the pioneer of Hausa literature and for this reason, a one day colloquium is not enough to adequately celebrate his writings and contributions to literature, Dr Ibrahim Malumfashi, a lecturer with the Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto has said.
The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will be holding an international colloquium on Dr Imam today at the Kaduna State University and Dr Muazu Bbabngida Aliyu, the governor of Niger State is expected to chair the occasion.
Although Dr Malumfashi commended ANA for honouring Imam, he said the entire event ought to have been on Imam alone, just like what Nigerian authors did for Professors Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe.
Dr Malumfashi said his book on Imam was published since March, this year and they were using it to start the centenary celebration. In addition, he said he bought a piece of land in Kaduna where he hoped to build the Abubakar Imam Institute, which will among other things, house a hall of fame, a conference and a research centre. Describing Dr Imam as the Shakespeare of Hausa literature, Malumfashi said almost every house hold in the northern Nigeria had a copy of one of his books.
Dr Malumfashi who is expected to give the keynote address at today's event said Imam's writings were influenced by the diverse literatures that he read, including English literature, Arabic and Asian literary works. "It took Imam five months and 21 days to complete reading, analysing, assimilating materials before producing Magana Jari Ce, a job if given to a professor today to produce may take six years to complete," he added.
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