A nation of lazy readers

But on the contrary, that appears not to be the case. While the average American reads 12 books a year –despite distractions of, even addiction to, television viewing – Nigerians read ‘’less than one book’’ in a year, according to an official of the Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria. The Council’s Registrar, Mrs Victoria Okojie […]

But on the contrary, that appears not to be the case. While the average American reads 12 books a year –despite distractions of, even addiction to, television viewing – Nigerians read ‘’less than one book’’ in a year, according to an official of the Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria. The Council’s Registrar, Mrs Victoria Okojie in fact noted that in Nigeria, the use of hardcopy books, not necessarily textbooks, among young people, is challenged by the preponderance of other media, like cable television and the worldwide web.   Although she agreed that new media cannot be ignored because some provide good channels to learn, communicate, and improve, ‘we must also realise that it is also good to read the physical book’. Founders of the American road to representative democracy linked its realisation to the constant education of minds and opinions of citizens and voters through access to researched and written information.  Nigeria’s founding leaders lacked such vision. Accordingly, while America’s Library of Congress is an institution publicly funded to service democratic governance; among educated Nigerians, libraries were in the past associated only with reading to prepare for examinations  for earning academic qualifications.
While many of Nigeria’s founding leaders distinguished themselves by publishing books to promote their political visions, they failed to develop a collective programme to encourage children and adults to read books and link reading to larger political horizons.  These days, it is not uncommon that educated parents do not show examples at homes of enjoying reading books and thrilling minds of children with stories read there from. The starvation of young people’s minds and denial of reading habits leaves them vulnerable to television and Internet’s diverse seductive menus, including graphic junk and violence. This situation undermines efforts to make children associate reading hardcopy books with fun and enjoyable intellectual development.  
Not that the teachers themselves are any better. Long strikes, very low levels of literacy among teachers – as evidenced by research that has found large percentage of teachers in various states, including Kano and Zamfara, unable to pass examinations set for secondary school pupils – cripples the growth of reading skills among pupils and students in tertiary institutions.  A couple of years ago, there was the scandalous revelation at the Lagos Orientation Camp when a youth corps member posted from one of the southern states could not spell her name during registration. Poor teaching is compounded by total absence of or poorly stocked libraries in schools in local communities, contributing to sustaining the disincentive to imbibe a culture of reading. The collapse of reading culture heightened in 1986 when the devaluation of the nation’s currency ramped up prices of imported books, while their locally-produced copies became constant target of confiscation to uphold intellectual copyright conventions. Unlike India where the federal government forced foreign publishers to allow local producers to reprint their titles with cheap and highly affordable, if easily perishable, pulp and newsprint, successive governments in Nigeria seemed bent on putting international laws first before national need.
The government’s “Bring Back the Book’’ is a good initiative aimed at reversing this age-old trend,  but it has so far focused more on the merit of associating literary luminaries as a publicity gimmick than a vigorous determination to re-launch and sustain Nigerians’ reading culture . Parents, legislators at local, state and federal government levels, traditional rulers; religious and secular community leaders, sports stars and public personalities, who should be part of driving this new trend, have virtually ignored the project, or have been left out of it.  
It is obvious that political leadership, including local and state government officials, must take the lead in building up book cultures in their areas. The federal government should consider tying access to Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds to ‘’Bring Back the Book’’ initiatives at local and state levels. They should encourage the setting up of Book Clubs and introduce reading competition in schools.