By Joseph Erunke, ABUJA

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi,has urged writers to use their works as tools to foster stability, strive for development, and promote emancipation of the mind and unity of their fatherland.

He explained that the basic standard for judging the work of any writer bothers on the ability to help achieve unity.

Malagi said this at the Association of Nigerian Authors,ANA’s 42nd Annual International Convention, where an AI-Powered E-Library platform called ‘Boldscholar’ was unveiled by the National Library of Nigeria.

Boldscholar is designed to serve as a legal deposit centre for the National Library.

The minister,who was the chairman of the event, urged the authors to put in extra work to produce excellent works that promote the Nigerian values and culture.

He said “We must strive to produce even more excellent works that disseminate our values and culture, and mirror the aesthetic pursuits of Nigerian people, which organically integrate ideology, artistry and enjoy ability.

“The time has come for writers and artists, together with the educators, theorists, journalists, politicians, and others concerned, to work against all ideas and habits that obstruct our existence as one indivisible nation.

“Writers must hold high ideals, live, and write in step with the times, and innovate through the individuality of their art. Above all, writers must understand that there is great promise in their works”.

He promised to create an enabling environment for literature and the Arts to flourish.

Malagi said:“As someone who undertook studies in language and the humanities and as an author myself, I take great pride in the fact that writers bear a historic mission and responsibility to their society through their ability to call for the advancement of the times.

“Writers represent the spirit of an era and are most able to guide the mood of an era.

“As a member of a government that is fully aware of the place of literature and the arts in a robust and civilized society, I assure you of the willingness of the present government to create an enabling environment for literature and the arts to flourish.

“And I hope the partnership between the Association of Nigerian Authors and the Ministry of Information And National Orientation will be sustained.

“My ministry is fully aware that literature and the arts are essential aspects of our identity. Our sense of worth and our humanity. They uplift our emotions and stir our souls, and they bring our people together and bind us close together, regardless of our cultures and backgrounds, our races, or religions. Therefore, we must nurture creativity and the arts and give proper weight to these goals”.

The National Librarian of Nigeria, Prof. Chinwe Veronica Anunobi, in her address, expressed excitement at the unveiling of Boldscholar, stressing that the platform will break the jinx as it is the first of its kind in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

She added that with how evolved the world became in the transformation of information packaging, processing, distribution and access engendered by Information and communication technology, it became obvious that the mode of legal depositing, preservation and access creation in the National Library had to be redefined for it to continue as the giant memory of the country.

She said this was when “BoldScholar approached the National Library in 2022 to offer a solution similar to what is obtainable in the Library of Congress and other National Libraries that are worth their names.

“The National Library signed an MoU to partner with BoldScholar along the line of our desire in June 17, 2022 . Thus, Boldscholar will serve as the Databank of the National Library for all online publications that fall within the mandate of the National Library as Giant Memory of Nigeria”, she explained.

“This arrangement provides online publishers access to the bibliographic publication control services of the National Library including International Standard Book Number, ISBN, and International Standard Serials Number, ISSN, and International Music Number,ISMN, and all their attendant services. It will also serve as a reliable access point for such publications,” she explained.

The Chief Executive of Boldscholar, Mr. Chukwuemeka Godswill, on his part, stated that the platform was developed to Create online visibility for books published by Nigerian authors, for easy access to scholars.

The platform,he further explained, will,“Aggregate journals published by Nigerian tertiary institutions for global visibility and Impact factor acceleration;fasttrack the proliferation of e-learning in Nigeria and across Africa by providing easy access to digital resources required for online studies as well as provide easy access to education resources for the visually impaired through audiobooks.”

According to him, it will equally enable Nigerian tertiary institutions and authors to generate revenue from their intellectual property, through a system that makes them earn revenue for every page accessed by researchers.