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Poetry as a therapy for solving societal challenges was the focus of scholars at the first Professor Kontein Trinya International Symposium at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education.
The symposium which had its theme as ‘Therapoetics: Affective Literature,’ was organised with the Department of English and Communication Art in honour of Kontein Trinya, a professor of Poetry at the university.
The keynote speaker, Professor Onyemaechi Udumuku, posited that in a nation like Nigeria that desires a positive change, poetry has the capacity to reduce the numerous challenges confronting the country if it is effectively applied.
Udumuku attributed the effectiveness of poetry in this regard to its ability to stimulate creative and critical thinking that make society better.
Similarly, the lead paper presenter, Dr. Psalms Chinaka while admitting that it would be difficult to have a perfect social, economic, and political system in Nigeria, however, noted that poetry could stimulate better policies that would guide the system of governance to improve the well-being of citizens.
Earlier, the acting vice chancellor, Professor Okechuku Onuchuku, has asserted that when people are properly mentored, they affect society positively, emphasising that those who fail to mentor others to take over from them have failed humanity.
Onuchuku described the event as the first of its kind in the university and “the best way to celebrate a good man.”
On his part, the former vice chancellor of the university and chairman of the event, Professor Ozo-mekuri Ndimele, while noting that the days when a teacher’s reward was in heaven were over, emphasised that the reward of a teacher is in the products of those he mentored, as he described Professor Trinya as a humble and practical Christian.
The former vice-chancellor commended the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, for appointing Professor Onuchuku to oversee the affairs of the university, and applauded him for sustaining development of the institution.
In the same vein, the chairman of the symposium organizing committee, Dr. Progress Umor, disclosed that the event was organised “to honour a perfect gentleman who is down to earth, a true definition of humanity, who has touched lives in different ways.”
He added that the symposium would become an annual event where scholars would “further expand the ideas and research focus of Professor Kontein Trinya.”
