Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors, a Celebration of Ibusa Cultural Life Says GIWA President, Dr. Ajumeze

 Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors, a Celebration of Ibusa Cultural Life Says GIWA President, Dr. Ajumeze

- Emeka Esogbue

Dr. Henry Obi Ajumeze, the President of the Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors (GIWA) has called on the people of Ibusa to pay attention to their cultural life. He said this in an address he personally delivered to the members of the Association on Friday morning. Disturbed by the growing disinterestedness in the cultural life of the community, Dr. Ajumeze, a UK-based University of Manchester, Lecturer, believes that the idea of GIWA is to celebrate the life of culture in the people in the community. 

He said, "I'll like to say that when we started this group, it's aim was the awareness of the need to pay some attention to our culture."

"So, it's simply an idea that aims to celebrate our cultural life in a creative, intellectual way. To become the cultural memory of our community."

He advised the members of the Association to harvest and store what they met and, in so doing, create more ways of knowing for the future."

The University Don who also spoke on the upcoming Night of Tributes for Philip Ngozi Kwusike, who died recently in Asaba, emphasized, "then our brother, Kwusike died...but Kwusike has since become a cultural icon of our community. Not just a writer, but his proclivity to write stories and poems that figure the community in the basic needs of the people."

"But for “Imagine Lagos and other Stories”, Kwusike hardly imagined the city or urban landscapes in his narrative universe. He wrote for the community."

"He became the metaphor with which we can associate our group, a relevant measure of our project of memory and archiving."

He requested the members of GIWA and Ibusa people at large to support the planned October 8 Night of Tributes for Kwusike by submitting their tributes to the Organizing Committee.

"I’ll like to add, now we know our basic reason for bringing this group about — for which I commend the foresight of Emeka Esogbue — it’s not to be entirely defined by the precept of a few. As we progress, all views and suggestions are welcomed. It’s a collective project," the Theatre Historian concluded. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Frank Isioma Okafor, the Chairman of the Constitution Making Committee of the Ibusa intellectual body who also doubles as the President of the Ibusa Community Development Union, Abuja Branch, is on the verge of submitting the final draft of the document to members, to formalize the Organization with structure. 

Ibusa, a community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State is reputed to be rich in human capital development and GIWA is believed to complement the gains socially and culturally. 

Qualified Ibusa indigenes, at home and abroad have been indicating interest to join the Association as a way of contributing their quota to the development of the community.