The Arts-Muse Fair

Introduction Nigeria is made up of two broad regions: Northern and Southern Nigeria. Northern Nigeria is a region with a diverse social cultural make up. It is a multi-ethnic and religious region consist of three sub-regions popularly known as geopolitical zones: North Central, North East, and North West zones that has nineteen states and Federal capital territory (FCT) all together today . Language is a means of communicating between two or more people in a particular area or medium. It could be oral or written. Virtually, one finds two or more speakers of a Nigerian language in almost all the regions of the country because of our integrated demography overtime. Mutual struggle to make ends meet led to migration of southerners to the North, and vice versa. So, today, there are Igbos, Yoruba, Hausas, Fulfulde, Nupes in also every state of the federation. When one visits Sabongari in Kano, you will think one is in Aba, Abia State, likewise if you are in Sabo in Ibadan, O

Adamu Idris Manarakis is a budding indigenous Nupe writer. Fondly called the “Philosopher of Nupe Mathematics”, he is the founder of Eduko Nupe Language Foundation, Minna. In this interview with Abubakar Akote for The Arts-Muse Fair, Manarakis believes that books in indigenous languages are easier to comprehend by readers than those written in foreign languages like English. He also challenged ANA to pay more attention to works in indigenous languages as a way to promote our arts and cultures. TAMF: When and how did you start writing? MANARAKIS: I started writing in 2008 although my major area of interest is Mathematics because I am a Building Technology Professional. When I finished from Secondary School, I developed interest in writing Mathematics textbooks, which today have been written but still unpublished. Before I ventured into writing, I had read a book, written by Paul Diner on how to be a successful Writer. I picked up my writing career after reading that b