Why writing can’t be taken for granted – Bilya Bala

By Ochiaka Ugwu

The Chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT) of Daily Trust Foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala has exposed the importance of writing to humanly stating that it cannot be taken for granted.
Bala who made this known Monday in Abuja during the opening ceremony of Media Enterprise Lab Project workshop which includes: Book Writing, Editing and Publishing organized by the Foundation with the support from MacArthur Foundation noted the message of God came by writing through the Angels giving credence that we can’t take writing for granted.
Continuing, Bala informed that writing comes through inspiration which was horned by constant mentorship, noting that the workshop was organized with the aim of robbing minds with those who made success in writing to mentor others.
“His words, “We hope to guide you to write, edit and publish. It has not been easy to sell book hardcopy in recent times, but the workshop will take care of everything. We will guide you from writing to shelve and when it is sold.
“There are excellent resource persons that will do justice to the topics during the workshop. They will teach you on how to use your knowledge to make a sense of writing” he stated.
Also speaking, the Africa Director of MacArthur, Dr. Kole Shettima noted they had supported Nigeria government led efforts in fighting corruption through entrenchment of accountability and transparency in the system.
Shettima who was represented by Hauwa Kassim noted they had been working since 2015 and had been supporting media to expose corrupt practices, saying they were delighted to be working with Daily Trust Foundation.
He said that upon the fact that donor funds are reducing and with media space shrinking, they hope to do more in building capacity of journalists.
He expressed hope that the workshop would improve the skills of participants to advance in their profession.
President of Nigeria Book Publishers Association, Mr. Uchenna Cyril Anioke represented by Dr. Abdulaziz Ahmed Tahir thanked Trust for putting together the event, saying that book publishing had tremendous impact on the society.