A LOT OF WATER PASSED UNDER THE BRIDGE

The Nigerian Institute of Translators and Interpreters has seen a lot of activity since the last post here. Apart from our regular meetings in Abuja, we held the last meeting of 2009 on Saturday 12th September, and the following deliberations were taken:

THE NITI BILL :

The House of Representatives went on break briefly, so the planned NITI follow-up visit to the House could not hold. As soon as the House resumes business on 29th September, we will visit our contacts to put more effort into passing the NITI Bill into Law. This is a long process which we are achieving gradually.

This meeting finally makes an urgent call to all NITI members to please pay up their 2008 and 2009 annual dues. Every association of professionals in the world needs funds to run its affairs and those funds come from the members. This great Institute of you and I lack the funds necessary to run it because members have not been paying up. Consequently, we once more remind  to pay into the NITI ECOBANK account at any of the Bank branches nationwide. 

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE :

We decided to intensify membership drive for NITI, contacting as many language professionals as possible who work in European as well as African languages. The All Nigerian Universities’ Association event at UNILAG in November would also be used to further this course. This meeting also decided to introduce Membership ID Cards and, possibly, Certificates for NITI members. 

ADMISSION INTO NITI :

This meeting looked into the organization of paid admission examinations for language professionals who aspire to become NITI members, with the exception of experienced well established professionals who, in the assessment of NITI, should be exempt from the examinations. There would be initially two examination centres, Lagos and Abuja, and this year’s examination might hold in December or January 2010, and will comprise three papers: English, Translation (into the applicant’s target language) and a general paper. The examination fee will be fixed soon and new entrants into the NITI fold will have to pay either the examination fee or an admission fee (for those exempt from the exam). 

9TH NITI AWARDS AND CONGRESS :

In the earlier meetings, we had decided to hold a 9th NITI Awards and Congress on 30th September 2009 in celebration of the International Translation Day. 

But in this last meeting, for reasons beyond our control it was decided that the earlier fixed date was too close to organise and execute the event as planned, so NITI decided to still celebrate the International Translation Day but with a scaled down event. However, the preparations for the 9th NITI Awards and Congress would continue but the event has been moved to a date in 2010 to be announced later.

Consequently, on 30th September 2009, our dear Institute held the NITI International Translation Day Awards and Dinner at the Rayfield Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja.

This was a one day event comprising:

-  The presentation of the dinner speech.

-  Official presentation of two Awards: the Award for Institutional Excellence in Translation Promotion presented to the Voice of Nigeria (VON), and the Award for Interpretation Excellence given to Mr. Muyiwa Phillips, veteran Nigerian expert in the field of interpretation.

-  Dinner:   Buffet was served by the Rayfield Kitchen.

The event was well attended by NITI members and important invitees from different works of life.