By Okechukwu Uwaezuoke, ThisDay Art & Review
"It's a rare and uncommon privilege." - Ken
Abuja Literary Society's co-founder, Ken Ike is among six West African recipients of the 2008 Ashoka Fellowship. Approved by the board of the prestigious global organisation in Washington DC, each of the Fellows automatically becomes a life member of Ashoka and will receive a stipend of about $70,000 spread over three years.
According to the citation by Ashoka, Ike is been recognised for his decade-long work in the regeneration of a literary culture and reading habit in Abuja. Using the platform of his highly successful Abuja Literary Society, Ike conceived the Abuja Reads Project, which is the use of conscious mentorship to bring back accurate reading and writing habits in young people.
Ashoka West Africa regional director, Leslie Agams, said the recipients of Ashoka Fellowship are chosen after a very rigorous search and selection process in which they demonstrate that they fully meet Ashoka's selection criteria.
"Other 2008 Nigerian recipients include Kingsley Bangswell, Mohammed Bah Abba, Ifeoma Joy Okoye, Dorothy Aken'ova, Jude Obodo, Gbenga Sesan and Nnaemka Ikegwuonu who were singled out for possessing system changing solutions for the world's most urgent social problems. Each is regarded as a social entrepreneur because the work that they do creates positive social change."
Jude Obodo, for instance, discovered a more reliable approach of guiding young people into careers for which they manifest innate ability. He is making the round of schools in Abuja FCT deploying his model based on scientific principles, freely to young people. This model has guided a good number of young people into careers they are passionate about with a precision not remotely realizable by the usual guidance and counseling in schools.
Mohammed Bah Abba, in Kano, invented the Desert Fridge, a pot-in-pot cooling system not depended on electricity and made available to rural farmers to preserve their agricultural products thereby helping them command better market prices.
Kingsley Bangswell is using his Youth Development Initiative as the rallying point of youth development and political empowerment, while Ifeoma okoye is in the forefront of expanding the clinical trial infrastructure in Nigeria, as well as creating a forum for clinical research practitioners to exchange ideas on best practices.
Known in literary circles as the Slam Master, because of his organisation of Abuja's first performance poetry contests, Abuja Poetry Slam, Ken Ike is a poet and author of the best selling, The River Died.
"I received the news with deep joy," he said. "It's a rare and uncommon privilege."
Ike's Abuja Reads Project is aimed at teenagers and young adults who are the age groups most often lured into anti-social behaviour through lousy role models grabbed through uncritical immersion in cable TV viewing. He aims to get them reading for leisure and self development. Abuja Reads project shall do this by establishing reading clubs in secondary schools in Abuja and environs. This ultimately will lead to renaissance of the kind similar to what the ALS achieved with adults in Abuja.
Founded in 1980 by Bill Drayton in Washington DC, Ashoka is the global organisation of the world's leading social entrepreneurs—men and women who have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. They demonstrate unrivaled commitment to bold new ideas and prove that compassion, creativity, and collaboration are tremendous forces for change.
Ashoka's core work is identifying and investing these leading social entrepreneurs with new ideas for social change. These innovators, or changemakers, are elected Ashoka Fellows, given financial and professional support, as well as access to a global network of social entrepreneurs. Since 1981, Ashoka has elected over 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.
Ashoka initiated operations in West Africa with the launch of its Nigeria program in 1991. The Nigerian Fellowship has grown from 8 social entrepreneurs elected in 1991 to 69 fellows by 2008.
By Okechukwu Uwaezuoke, ThisDay Art & Review
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