By Bashir Bello

Arabic poets from different parts of Nigeria have converged in Kano for their maiden Nigeria Arabic Poetry exhibition.

The event, which was organised by The Charitable Foundation for Teaching and Spreading of Arabic in Nigeria, was to showcase the work of the young Nigerian Arabic poets.

Coordinator of the Foundation, Dr Umar Adam Muhammmad said the exhibition was to discover talents among the upcoming poets in the country.

According to him, “the exhibition is aimed at improving Arabic literature, especially poetry thereby bringing out the talent in the participants so they can compete with their peers globally,” Muhammad said.

On his part, the Vice President, International Association of Department of Arabic, Muhammad Rabiu Awwal Sa’ad called on government at all levels to accord Arabic literature utmost attention.

“It is a day to showcase Arabic poem produced by nigerian poets. The essence is to showcase and discover talents among our own. We have poets from across Nigeria who converged in Kano for the exhibition.

“We have participants from states such as Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara while others from Jigawa and Sokoto among others could not make it down.

“We have other African countries where such exhibition is organized. We have Guinea, Senegal, Mali and others. The event is the maiden edition in Nigeria.

“It is to discover and bring to limelight our own poets in Nigeria. So that they can compete favourably with others across the world. The Arabic countries don’t know we have

“We call on the govt and relevant authorities to accord necessary attention to Arabic literature because it is the language in which history was written and so also was the religion written in Arabic. Similarly, our Emirates and shariah courts conduct their activities in Arabic language. “The exhibition is also to encourage our students and upcoming ones to learning of Arabic,” Sa’ad said.

Some of the participants expressed their excitement with the exhibition which provided them the platform to perform and showcase their talent before the large gathering.