PORT HARCOURT WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2014

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SUMMARY OF THE BID FOR PORT HARCOURT WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2014

© 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2014, it will be a hundred years since the creation of Nigeria by the British colonial authorities. Nigeria has blossomed into a vibrant country with a rich heritage of literary traditions that have helped to shape it into a beacon among African nations. She has given the world the first person of African descent to win the Nobel Prize for literature, Wole Soyinka; the author of Africa’s most popular novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe; and younger world-renowned writers such as Ben Okri, winner of the Booker Prize in 1991 and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, winner of the Orange Prize in 2007.

The city of Port Harcourt, significant for its multicultural inhabitants and its status as the hub of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, has come of age as a haven of culture and is fast making a name for itself as a major player in the global literary stage. Port Harcourt is home to the annual Garden City Literary Festival, which has been described by Thisday Newspapers as ‘. . . arguably the biggest event of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.’ The GCLF has been able to attract literary greats such as Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ghana’s Ama Atta Aidoo and Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, J. P. Clark and Sefi Atta. Guests of honours to the festival have included former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as well as Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Port Harcourt is committed to becoming the first city in Sub-Saharan Africa to serve as the World Book Capital. It would build on the legacy of its literary history and culture to expand its role and influence by attracting stakeholders in the publishing industry from across the continent to promote books and reading, meeting pressing development needs in Africa, in line with the © 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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United Nations Millennium Development Goal. Port Harcourt, as World Book Capital, would transform not just the Niger Delta region and Nigeria but also the rest of Africa. This is because of Nigeria’s strategic place in Africa as its most populous country as well as its economic, political and social leadership role on the continent. This bid proposes a rich variety of events to run through the World Book Capital year. It will include the scaling and strengthening of existing events in the city, as well as launching strategic activities that would ensure popular reach, accelerate the rate of literary promotion in the city and catalyze writers from across the region, the country and the continent. Again, we have an important ally in the governor of Rivers State, the Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, a literary enthusiast, who has committed to supporting a dynamic team, composed of literature experts and leaders from the private sector, civil society organizations, galvanized by the Rainbow Book Club, to drive the activities for 2014. This team will work collaboratively to enable effective management and governance of the activities for the year with special attention to transparency and accountability. In addition, the Committee will develop tools for measuring and evaluating the impact of the programmes and ensuring sustainability of all the programmes beyond 2014.

‘Books: Window to our World of Possibilities,’ will serve as the theme that will drive the 2014 activities in Port Harcourt. This captures the simple but powerful concept that the act of reading books provides knowledge and exposure, allowing the reader to be transported to new worlds, introduced to new concepts and ideas and invariably transformed. Enlightened, individuals are then empowered to protect their democracy, promote social justice and contribute towards the development and advancement of their communities and societies.

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WELCOME TO PORT HARCOURT Fondly referred to as the Garden City, Port Harcourt was created in 1912 as a shipping hub. It gained influence following the discovery of oil in nearby Oloibiri, and is currently the nerve centre of the Niger Delta region, which is home to 98 percent of Nigeria’s oil reserves.

Beyond its economic importance, Port Harcourt has served as a haven for authors and is the home of renowned writers such as Ken Saro-Wiwa, Elechi Amadi, Gabriel Okara, Ola Rotimi and Kaine Agary. The annual Garden City Literary Festival and Garden City Book Fair has attracted the participation of literary greats such as Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and J.P. Clark, Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ghana’s Ama Atta Aidoo and, best of all, the people of Port Harcourt have embraced literature with an exciting annual calendar of book signings, author readings, literary circles and programmes for young people.

Location and Origins Port Harcourt is the capital of Rivers State in Southern Nigeria. It was named after Lewis Harcourt, a British Colonial Secretary, and the city has served two significant historical roles – as a centre point for British military operations in World War 1 and as an outpost for transporting coal from Nigeria to Europe and further afield. After Nigeria gained independence, Port Harcourt became the most prosperous city in the Eastern area of Nigeria because of the exportation of oil from its shores.

A Symbol of the Struggle for Sustainable Development

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Over the past forty years, Port Harcourt has emerged to symbolise the struggle for equitable and sustainable development. It played a key role in the political unrest of the Niger Delta, a region that has historically been characterized by significant inequalities. In spite of the fact that the bulk of Nigeria's oil exports originate from the area, it has suffered from decades of underdevelopment and water and air pollution resulting from rampant oil spills and continued gas flaring, which has destroyed the local environment and decimated the livelihoods of rural dwellers—resulting in high unemployment among the youth.

This situation led to the emergence of activists, the vast majority of whom were young Nigerians, striving for a share of the country’s oil wealth. Peaceful at first, their demands for equitable development eventually turned violent, with attacks on the infrastructure of the leading oil companies in the region.

In recent years, however, there has been a major breakthrough. Through the Federal Government of Nigeria's Amnesty Programme, thousands of militant youths have surrendered their weapons in exchange for amnesty, rehabilitation and training in vocational skills. In addition, under the visionary leadership of the current governor of Rivers State, the Right Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, peace and stability have returned to Port Harcourt. Today, Port Harcourt is a bustling metropolis and is home to multinationals, international nonprofits, vibrant markets, universities, hotels and a very active arts and culture scene.

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PORT HARCOURT AS WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2014 Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State in Nigeria, West Africa, will serve as an ideal host for the 2014 World Book Capital for several reasons: ·

Nigeria’s great literary tradition which has enriched global book culture, and can serve as a driving force for a new literary ‘renaissance’ in Africa. Nigeria has given the world some great writers such as Wole Soyinka, the first person of African descent to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Chinua Achebe, author of the most widely read book by an African, Things Fall Apart, and other world-renowned writers such as Ken Saro-Wiwa, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ben Okri and Elechi Amadi. Port Harcourt, as the World Book Capital, will not only highlight the past achievements of this region but will also enrich the current learning climate towards an even greater era of literature.

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Nigeria has a population of about 155 million people. With approximately 800 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa, this means 1 out of 5 Africans is a Nigerian. In addition, 70% of Nigeria's population are under the age of 35. As a result, by serving as the host for the World Book Capital, with a focus on youth, Port Harcourt shall demonstrate what is possible in the African context. This positive step towards meeting a pressing development need amongst the world’s illiterate population would have a ripple effect in other areas like the HIV/Aids awareness, in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal. More specifically, it will galvanize stakeholders to address the wide array of challenges that confront the African book and reading culture which include low school enrolment, high levels of literacy and limited availability of books. We believe that once the young people of Nigeria are empowered through © 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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reading, they can act as an army of change agents not only in Nigeria, but across the African continent. ·

Port Harcourt has a long history in literary traditions and has served as a haven for writers for decades. Port Harcourt in the 70s had a vibrant cultural centre in the Old Port Harcourt Town that provided entertainment and education through plays directed by the likes of Comish Ekiye with an illustrious cast that included actors such as Doye Agama, Barbara Soki and Aso Douglas. Some of the early renowned educational institutes in Nigeria such as the Okrika Grammar School and the Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls Secondary School were very active in promoting literature in the city. Today, Port Harcourt hosts the annual Garden City Literary Festival, along with other literary events over the course of the year and is home to diverse groups of authors, including the novelist Elechi Amadi and poet Gabriel Okara, as well as renowned historians such as Robin Horton and E. J. Alagoa. Also of note is the fact that Port Harcourt represents the rich duality of Nigerian and African literary cultures; the legacy of colonialism and its impact on language, culture and society and the heritage of triumph in the struggle for equity, peace and justice.

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With a focus on children and the youth, a wide variety of programmes are planned that would run through the World Book Capital City 2014–2015 year. The year would kick off with a week-long run of activities in which the President of Nigeria would be in attendance, to create awareness. This would be followed by a calendar of weekly and monthly events. Also, important dates in the annual calendar would be used to draw attention to the World Book Capital programme. Key on this calendar would be the annual Garden City Literary Festival, which would then be in its 7th year. The proposed

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events have been arranged to draw in participation from various sectors of society including the popular music, film and sports sector, as well as civil society and grassroots organisations, schools, the public and the private sector. 路

Consultations across various stakeholders including writers and publishers associations, government agencies and literary enthusiasts have garnered significant support for the hosting of the World Book Capital in Port Harcourt. In addition, the governor of Rivers State, himself a literary enthusiast, has constituted a dynamic team, which includes private sector and civil society organizations, galvanized by Rainbow Book Club, who will drive the activities for 2014. This team will generate financial support that will enable it effectively cover all the costs associated with the programmes for 2014.

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WORLD BOOK CAPITAL ACTIVITIES FOR 2014 Opening Events The year-long celebration will kick-off on April 23 2014 with a week of activities to include: ·

Theme Song Competition: children and young people will be asked to write and submit songs from which one will be chosen as the theme song of the year. This song will be performed by popular Nigerian artists at the opening ceremony.

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The opening of the multi-purpose Garden City Library Complex: the facility, which would contain a bookshop selling books at discount prices, a library, and a theatre, is planned as a literary hub for the city.

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A national symposium on the topic ‘Books: Windows to the World’: this forum will bring together stakeholders in the book chain industry to discuss the future of reading, literacy and literary culture in Nigeria. The Rivers State Governor will lead stakeholders in this discussion on the importance of literacy and literature in unlocking the potential of the nation’s youth.

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A Book Reading and Youth Discussion Group: Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will be invited to read an excerpt from a classic Nigerian novel to children. The President recently led a national reading campaign tagged ‘Bring Back the Book’, and his involvement will encourage more young people to read and write.

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‘Along Came the Book’: an exciting drama performance that will trace the history of books and the reading culture in Nigeria. This colourful show will feature live performances of praise singing, storytelling, traditional poetry, dances, and other forms of © 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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arts. It will show the evolution to the modern counterpart of ‘the spoken word’ which is celebrated first in African-American and other contemporary literary culture. This will transform into the era of the physical book and culminate in the digital book. ·

‘Celebrities Love to Read’: at strategic locations across the city of Port Harcourt, authors and poets, celebrities from popular industry such as film, music, sports, as well as the business communities will read to children in schools and libraries, with the aim of igniting a passion for books and reading. Also, because of their celebrity status, these participants will attract some media attention, thus generating good publicity for the World Book Capital.

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‘Culture, Tradition and African Literary Renaissance: A Roundtable Discussion with Young African Authors’: a prominent Nigerian author will be invited to deliver a keynote address on this subject and this would be followed by a discussion by young African authors on the role of culture in literary traditions and its impact on the successive generations of writers. At the end of the discussion, a communiqué for action would be issued.

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The first Book-of-the Month (for May) will be announced during these events.

Closing Events In the week leading up to World Book and Copyright Day 2015, Port Harcourt will again hold events to round off the World Book Capital year activities and initiatives. This celebration will feature: ·

Port Harcourt World Book Capital Awards: in recognition of the role they have played to ensure the success of the yearlong programme and in promoting the books as our window © 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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to a world of opportunities, awards would be given to deserving individuals, schools, libraries, media, civil society organizations and other strategic partners. ·

Youth Exhibition: an exhibition entitled ‘Possibilities’ will showcase writings, poems and artwork by children and the youth that have been inspired by the theme of the World Book Capital.

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‘The Book Leads Us Forward’: this drama presentation will be the concluding part of the ‘Along Came the Book’. Futuristic in nature, it will outline the lessons learnt from the yearlong activities and how these translate into possibilities for the future, with the book as a fundamental tool for social development and social change.

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‘Sustaining the Legacy’ Symposium: will bring together all stakeholders who have been involved in the project from the onset in frank and open discussions on the future of the project beyond 2014 and make concrete plans on how to sustain the momentum and impact, going forward.

Scaling and Enhancing Existing Initiatives ·

Featuring the ‘book-of-the-month’: in each month of the World Book Capital year, a book would be chosen as the book-of-the-month. This book would be the focus of discussion in book clubs, as well as television and radio shows. Highlights of the various discussions would be collated and a communiqué issued with ideas of how lessons from the book-of-the-month can translate into possibilities in society.

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Running book clubs: existing book clubs around the city will be identified and supported and new ones will be set up to encourage regular reading and sharing with a focus on a Book-of-the-Month. This would then generate discussion around those books which

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should lead to thought or action that can improve society. A parallel online book club would run throughout the World Book Capital year. The book-of-the-month will address different age and reading levels. ·

Meet the author: Each month, the author of the book-of-the-month will be invited to visit the city of Port Harcourt to interact with readers and do book signings. Participants will be able to interact with the author and engage them in discussions on the book.

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Leaders Read: Role models and popular icons from sports, film, politics, the private sector and academia, among others, will be invited to read to children from the book-ofthe-month. This would also be a forum for mentoring and career guidance for participants.

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Garden City Literary Festival: In 2014, Port Harcourt will celebrate the 7th hosting of the Garden City Literary Festival. This festival is an important fixture in the Nigerian literary calendar, and we expect the 2014 edition to have an even bigger audience. This weeklong festival features an array of local, national and international writers and their works. It will explore the major themes of the World Book Capital programme with a diversity of participants from across the continent, events for children, writers’ workshops, drama performances and symposia.

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Garden City Book Fair: The Garden City Book Fair holds during the GCLF. It features booksellers, publishers, and bookshops from across the country. It offers an opportunity for schools, libraries, organisations and individuals to shop for a variety of books in one place. Book signings by invited authors are a key feature at the book fair.

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Rainbow Reading Tree: This is a graded reading scale which encourages youngsters to read a book a week over the year. As participants climb the tree, and successfully

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complete stipulated books appropriate to their age group at the required time, they would receive rewards/recognition.

New Activities ·

Library Support Programme: the Rivers State Government has recently renovated over 100 public primary and secondary schools and each of these schools is equipped with a modern library. A book donation programme will be set up and individuals, faith-based organisations and private organisations would be encouraged to donate books or funds which would be given to these libraries. Also part of this drive would be to solicit for volunteers to teach in an adult literacy program which can be hosted in the public libraries. This would open a world of opportunities for knowledge acquisition and information for the illiterate adult population. The programme would also develop an adult literacy manual and a training kit for volunteers who are committed to teaching people of all ages to read.

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Books on the Radio: recognizing the importance of the radio in Nigeria and other developing economies in reaching millions of people, the committee will leverage a local radio station’s weekly book club show, ensuring that the selected book-of-the-month is featured so as to get the entire city reading and discussing the same book. The book’s author will be invited to participate in the on-air discussions where listeners will be invited to call in with their questions, comments and observations.

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Television Show: a TV game show will be introduced in April 2014 and would run for the duration of the year. Patterned after the popular TV show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, the show will feature questions on literature, with particular emphasis to the book-of-the-month. The game show will be interactive and ensure audience participation. © 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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Monthly drama performances: the book-of-the-month will be adapted for a stage drama by the youth, children, and local theatre groups. Each of these groups would take turns throughout the year to put up a presentation during the month when the book is being read.

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The Walking Book: ‘The Walking Book’ is a creation of a communal story in the spirit of storytelling and oral traditions. The story will be passed from school to school over the course of the year with each school adding its own chapter. The book will be edited by eminent scholars and published towards the end of World Book Capital year. The ‘Walking Book’ will encourage young people to write and also to collaborate and share the lessons of life with each other. It is also an opportunity for students to come together in the spirit of unity and peace to create a tale ‘like no other’.

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Ken Saro-Wiwa Writer/Martyr Memorial Square: as part of the World Book Capital activities will be the establishment of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Writer/Martyrs Memorial Square to be located in a central point in Port Harcourt. The Square will commemorate the life and work of this illustrious writer and environmental activist who was brutally murdered in 1995 by the military government of the time. Apart from this, it will serve as a worthy commemoration and celebration for other fallen Nigerian writers. The day would also be marked by symposia and discussions.

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Introduction of a writer’s residency: the World Book Capital year would be an opportunity to introduce a writers’ residency programme. Applications would be invited from established and aspiring writers to a one-year residency programme in Port Harcourt at the end of which they would be expected to write stories with themes on ‘possibilities’ for the Niger Delta. These stories would be published in an anthology.

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Essay Contest: as Nigeria turns 100, Port Harcourt will launch a nation-wide essay contest. The winner of the contest will have the unique opportunity of presenting his or her paper during the World Book Capital closing ceremonies in March 2015.

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‘Integration into existing state events: Major events in the annual cultural calendar of the city, such as CARNIRIV, the Rivers State Carnival, would feature the theme of the World Book Capital.

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CONFORMITY WITH UNESCO PRINCIPLES The planned activity programme and all its components are in conformity with the principles of freedom of expression, freedom to publish and to distribute information, as stated in the UNESCO Constitution. This includes the Principle of Non-Discrimination, freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of association. The United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in its established legal foundations supports the freedom to publish and distribute information without any hindrance. They are also in strict conformity of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Articles 19 and 27. Distinctly and specifically, the UNESCO principles are particular on the principle of non-discrimination, equality of opportunity and treatment, universal access to education and the principle of solidarity.

This proposal being submitted in support of the city of Port Harcourt being selected as the World Book Capital for the year 2014 will endeavour to comply with all the principles stated above.

This proposal, in its concepts and themes is geared towards the cultural education of society employing the concept of culture, creativity and memory with relations to achieving order both in thought and in action by a wide range of organizations and individuals towards which this project is targeted. The authors, icons, government institutions, students and ordinary lovers of literature and arts will share and benefit from the activities and programmes arising out of the themes, the concept and motifs of the proposal.

This proposal pays special attention to mental and cognitive development as a major outcome of literary enterprises by promoting dialogues and discourses across several regions in Africa and the world throughout the period in which Port Harcourt will serve as the World Book Capital.

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Being mindful of the fact that writers all over the world are mostly in danger due to the peculiar nature of their profession, the proposal for Port Harcourt as the World Book Capital of 2014 lays emphasis on the protection of the rights of writers and book publishing companies in line with their fundamental right to publish and distribute cultural and educational materials. The programme on copyright, piracy and sanctity of the written word in Nigeria will draw attention to the dignity of the end product of literary activities to the extent that they are protected and their values restored appropriately within the confines of the time and energy devoted to their production.

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GOVERNANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION Organizing Committee The programme will be implemented by a committee led by the Rainbow Book Club and the Rivers State Government. Rivers State Government will be one of the financiers of the year long programme while Rainbow Book Club, an independent non-profit organization will provide financial management and oversight of the project to ensure financial transparency and sustainability. The organizing committee will be composed of the following notable members: Committee Chair Koko Kalango is the founder and Director of the Rainbow Book Club. After spending several years writing a weekly lifestyle column in the Sunday supplement of Thisday Newspaper, she founded Rainbow Book Club to address the dying reading culture in Nigeria. Through the Rainbow Book Club she has run the ‘Get Nigeria Reading again!’ campaign, set up book clubs, organised reading lessons for children in rural communities, established libraries, promoted writers and encouraged literary activities. In recognition of her work, she was invited in 2007 to serve on the READ Campaign of the Federal Ministry of Education, and was selected and sponsored by the British Council to represent Nigeria at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2010. She is the Festival Director of the Garden City Literary Festival. Koko studied French at the University of Benin and International Relations and Strategic Studies at the University of Lancaster. She has been a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs as well as the Royal African Society.

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Committee Members Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi is the Honourable Commissioner for Education Rivers State. She holds an LLB (Hons.) from Staffordshire University and a Bachelor of Laws (BL) from Nigerian Law School. She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the International Federation of Women Lawyers. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

She has served on the board of the Rivers State Economic Advisory Council since 2007 and is also a member of the Rivers State Planning Committee. She served as Commissioner for Housing from April 4, 2008 to January 8, 2009. Dame Alice was appointed Commissioner for Education from 2009 to 2010 and re-appointed Commissioner for Education by His Excellency RT. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on June10, 2011.

Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi is also currently the Chairman Planning Committee of the South-South Governors’ Forum Education Summit.

Dame Alice Lawrence is a Senior Legal Practitioner and is the Principal Partner of the Law firm Nemi & Nemi.

Noble Pepple is Executive Director/CEO of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency.

He studied Business Administration at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt and Environment and Development from the London School of Economics. Noble joined Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited in 1988 and has held several positions of managerial responsibility in Community Relations, Public & Government Affairs, Sustainable Development, Communications, Issues Management and a number of special management projects. Between 1997 and 2003, Noble worked at the Shell Corporate Headquarters in London. Š 2012 Rainbow Book Club

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He has also served as Regional External Affairs Manager and was elected Chairman of the Public Affairs Sub-Committee of the Oil Producers Trade Sector (the main oil and gas industry body) between 2008 and 2009.

A. Igoni Barrett was born in 1979 in Port Harcourt. In 2005, he won the BBC World Service short story competition for one of the stories in his well-received collection entitled From Caves of Rotten Teeth. He has worked on the editorial team of Farafina magazine and is the founding organizer of the BookJam reading series in Lagos, Nigeria. He has been awarded a Chinua Achebe Center fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy. Barrett’s new collection of stories, Love Is Power, Or Something Like That, is due to be published in the UK and US in 2013.

Effie White has a BA in Economics from the University of Leeds and MA in Television Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. She has extensive experience in the media, working initially in advertising with newspapers such as the Financial Times before forging a career as a journalist in radio and Television in the UK. She has edited community newsletters both in the UK and Nigeria, is heavily involved in charity projects in her community and is cofounder of the Hope Alive Foundation, a charity aimed at making education accessible for communities in underprivileged areas. Effie is originally from Ghana.

Judy Nwanodi is the only child of Professor Alexander Oppenheim and Lady Beatrice of Raffles College, Singapore. Educated in Northwestern University, USA, she proceeded to the prestigious University of Oxford for a B.A. Hons. Geography. She has held several appointments in the educational sector in Rivers State. Mrs. Nwanodi is one of the first of nine life members of

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the Rivers State branch of the National Council of Women’s Society. She is a member of several charity associations including Nigerwives.

Anthony Epelle is the CEO of Samuelson Consulting and Chairman of the CIBN Syndicate Group on Human Capital Development. His work experienced spans 30 years, as a Chartered Accountant, Certified Trainer, Consultant and project management expert. Tony served as the pioneer Managing Director of Partnership Savings & Loans Limited and Haggai Investment and Trust Company Limited. A regular columnist in Business Day Newspapers, Tony has also been actively in public sector projects for the Rivers State Government. Epelle graduated with a BSc. in Economics from the University of Ibadan and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology and Leadership Studies.

Ndidi Nwuneli is the cofounder of AACE Foods and Director of Sahel Capital. She started her career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, working in their Chicago, New York and Johannesburg Offices. She returned to Nigeria and established NIA which empowers female university students to achieve their highest potential in life and LEAP Africa which provides leadership, ethics and management training and coaching for youth, business owners, social entrepreneurs and the public sector. LEAP also conducts leadership research and has published numerous books on succession, governance, ethics and leadership. Ndidi holds a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School and received her undergraduate degree with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

She serves on numerous international boards including USAID’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA) and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on New Models of Leadership.

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Governance and Implementation Rainbow Book Club, a non-governmental organization, will ensure the effective governance and implementation of the programme. The Rainbow Book Club has successfully led four years of the Garden City Literary Festival and has organized numerous literacy and book projects across the country. The Organizing Committee, spearheaded by the Director of the Rainbow Book Club, will work together with the Book Club and local partners who will be in charge of specific events. They will ensure that all the programmes and events are aligned with the overall vision and objectives as outlined above. In addition, they will actively track the use of funds to ensure that they are utilized effectively.

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CONCLUSION As a major city in the culturally diverse and literature rich country of Nigeria, Port Harcourt will present a unique opportunities for enhancing the idea of the ‘book’ in the 21st century and its role as a window to a world of opportunities.

With a resilience born out of decades of struggle, Africa is ready to take her place on the global scene. With a call for ‘Trade not Aid’, African leaders are looking for partners that can see beyond the limits with which she has been portrayed to the possibilities that abound in her vast untapped resources. Nowhere is this more real than in her human capital. Investment in education would have a domino effect to all other sectors such the health, environment, government and even terrorism.

Bringing the World Book Capital to Nigeria also means bringing it to Africa. Nigeria constitutes one-fifth of Africa’s population, and as the most populous country, is a leader in the economic, political and social affairs of the continent.

Nigeria will mark 100 years as a nation in 2014, a year in which the attention of the world will be on her. This would present a unique platform to UNESCO to talk about the continent’s possibilities and also to reinforce its identity as a partner in the development of Africa.

The yearlong programme of events will present opportunities for children and young people to learn and grow, develop a reading culture, and practice self-expression through the art of writing.

2014 will introduce the general populace, especially the youth, to the power of books, and

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support them through the process of embracing books as their ‘window to the world of possibilities’.

The Niger Delta has over the years become synonymous with militancy, but with foresighted leadership, a formidable literary presence and literary events, and a population of youth hungry for knowledge, Port Harcourt is rising out of the ashes and on the brink of a reading revolution.

Making the city of Port Harcourt the World Book Capital of 2014 would help channel the energies of its youth into constructive activities that would build them up intellectually.

Ultimately, our hope is that Port Harcourt’s role as the host of the World Book Capital 2014 will have a catalytic effect on the Niger Delta region in particular, and Nigeria in general, creating an army of social change agents who, informed and empowered by reading, will work collaboratively to build a peaceful, prosperous and just society.

© 2012 Rainbow Book Club