By Elizabeth Uwandu

THE 18th edition of the Lagos Book and Arts Festival may have come and gone. But, the feel of nostalgia, empathy and utter helplessness of the fate of the global world and indeed Africa ravaged by scourges of terrorism, racism and apartheid leave the participants with nothing but the hope of redemption, secularism and the enthronement of the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Again, the realization that tolerance, understanding and harmony irrespective of tribe, religion and status; can be sustained if only  people have the knowledge of themselves, their migration and subsequent interaction were issues that deserves that need to be sustained.

Terrifying weapon

The question, “Where lies the knowledge of people, their communication and expectations formed the theme of 2016 LABAF, “The terror of knowledge; the book is a terrifying weapon against the forces of incapacity.”

So, it was no wonder that books which illuminate discuss at the festival included; Frontiers of Jihad in Africa by Yinka Olomojobi and Eat the Heart of the Infidel led the focus of discussion of the festival and gave the genesis of the rise of Boko Haram and its affiliations across Africa. Other books by the West also gave their own perspective of the word terrorism. They include David Altheide’s Terrorism and the Politics of Fear; Jean Baurdrillard’s The Spirit of Terrorism; Egerton Frazier’s Jihad in the West: The Rise of Militant Salafism and Frank Cass’s Inside Terrorism.

• Discussion time, panelists discussing the future of books

Contemporary African works such as ElNathan John’s Born on A Tuesday; Alaa Al Aswany’s Yacoubian Building; Obinna Udenwe’s Satan and Shaitans; Edify Yakusak’s After they Left and the economics Nobel laureate, Joe Stiglitz’s work, The Great Divide and Olufemi Taiwo’s Africa Must be Modern could not have been better references on the menace of terrorism and its mystify derivations , that tend to disrupt the sanity and sanctity of the human race.

Premised on the speech, “ Education to the rescue…the book as the megastar, Jahman Anikulapo, Festival Programme Curator began with series of thought provocation questions. “How do you fortify yourself against the rage of madness that is sure to rule the soul of the land in the coming season?

Communal collective

How do you mitigate the effects of the tragedies that the perfidious reign of the bigoted bulldog will unleash on our communal collective?”

Anikulapo said it was only through education, enlightenment and empowerment rest the wall of survival in the regime of the dark. “Our mandate this year is help deepen the quest for knowledge acquisition and merchandising; and to spread the gospel of mental and mind development through massive especially through engagement with text-written, visualized, crafted and spoken. Toyin Akinosho, Secretary General, Committee for Relevant Art, CORA noted “the terror of knowledge was among several themes to highlight the challenges of people faced as part of community of humans.”

Giving a breakdown of books that heralded the festival, Akinosho said that the terror of knowledge became expedient to discuss extensively the sociology of insurgency and what it will take for the decimation of our collective common humanity.