By Felicia Imohimi

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts to tackle insecurity and improve living conditions across the country.

The President of the association, Dr Usman Akanbi, made the call at the 45th International Convention of ANA in Abuja on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convention and conference have the theme: “Literature, National Security and the Place of Nigeria in the World.”

Akanbi said the government must create an enabling environment for Nigerians, especially young people, to secure their future and regain confidence in the country’s prospects.

“No nation can grow when its young people have lost hope,” he said.

He commended the government for its structural reforms and efforts to improve infrastructure but urged it to make the reforms more people-centred.

Akanbi said many Nigerians were grappling with economic hardship and declining living standards, stressing that reforms, regardless of their intentions, should not be perceived as punishment.

Quoting John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he recalled the lines depicting regions of sorrow where peace, rest and hope were absent.

He said people trapped in such conditions could lose hope, adding that no reform could succeed without public confidence and improved welfare.

He also cited former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who said the legitimate duty of government was the pursuit of the happiness of its people.

“The happiness and welfare of the people must therefore be the true measure of all reforms,” he said.

The ANA president identified insecurity and poor hinterland roads as major concerns for writers travelling across the country to meet readers.

“Coming to Abuja from many parts of the country through the hinterland roads is a hellish experience.

“Tales of kidnapping, armed robbery and collapsed bridges abound,” he said.

He acknowledged the government’s coastal and border road projects but said greater attention should be given to roads linking farms to markets, villages to towns and communities to urban centres.

“A nation is fed and held together by its hinterland,” he said.

On the convention’s theme, Akanbi said it was deliberately chosen because literature did not exist in isolation, while writers served as citizens, witnesses and the conscience of society.

He said promoting quality writing across literary genres remained ANA’s primary mandate, while security was essential to sustaining creativity and literary development.

“Without security, there can be no literature, no creativity and no reading. The farmer cannot farm, the trader cannot travel, the child cannot go to school and the writer cannot imagine.

“Insecurity has become the greatest censor of Nigerian imagination,” he said.

Akanbi said the theme also sought to reclaim Nigeria’s global narrative through literature, noting that the country’s story was often told by others in fearful tones.

He urged Nigerian writers to use their works to project the country’s potential and aspirations in spite of its challenges.

He also called on politicians and other political actors to exercise restraint as the 2027 general elections approached.

According to him, the elections should be conducted in an atmosphere free of rancour and bitterness, stressing that politics should not become warfare.

Akanbi urged Nigerians to support government efforts towards building a better society, noting that national development required collective responsibility.

“Nation-building is a collective task. Government cannot do it alone, and citizens cannot thrive without responsible government,” he said.

(NAN)

FUA/TAK

Edited by Tosin Kolade