Mamman Vatsa Writers Village, tucked amidst igneous rocks and ranges, vales and valleys in Abuja’s Mpape District, is rapidly contesting the medal of Nigeria’s most vibrant headquarters of literary activity. The physical location of the ever-growing permanent headquarters of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA), was, for several decades after it was allocated to ANA in 1986, a forlorn wasteland. The soldier-poet, Mamman Jiya Vatsa, who was a member of the association and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, (FCTA) in his time, was concerned about the serial mendicant nomadism of the association.
ANA forever quested, cap in hand, for host states across the country, for its activities. Vatsa, an army General and poet himself, concurred with the request of ANA’s primordial leadership, for a settled operational address and allocated the present site, to the association. The bounteous parcel of land survived attempted takeovers by successive regimes and capricious trespassing. These chopped off nearly half its original span of over 60 hectares.
Under the leadership of Denja Abdullahi a few years ago, ANA secured partnership with KMVL, a construction firm headed by Kolawole Shaw, also a retired military officer, for the actualization of the dream of structured physical development of the hectare. The breathtaking, still-in-progress complex, already features well paved, substantially tarred network of roads complete with drainage.
There is a large auditorium, parking areas, secretariat, library, luxury suites, apartments, bars and African-themed gazebos. There are residential blocks by way of fully detached, semi-detached and terraced houses.
There is even a modern shopping center, as part of the enterprise of making the village self-sufficient. The names of famous Nigerian writers echo from the doors and signage of structures and facilities, beginning with the revered African master storyteller, Chinua Achebe, after whom the conference center is christened.
