Book theft: ‘Circuit cameras to be introduced in Nigerian libraries

Nigerians hardly go to the library to read books. What are you doing to change this trend? Over the years, there has been a sharp drop in our reading culture. Nigerians, especially youths, have neglected reading, either as a hobby or necessity to pass their exams. People do not see the need to visit the […]

Nigerians hardly go to the library to read books. What are you doing to change this trend?

Over the years, there has been a sharp drop in our reading culture. Nigerians, especially youths, have neglected reading, either as a hobby or necessity to pass their exams. People do not see the need to visit the library and read books and other materials.  May be they feel that the library is not different from what it used to be before. But the National Libraries all over the country are meeting up with today’s standards, in terms of availability of books and other research materials and we have done a lot in terms of ICT. To ensure that people imbibe good reading culture, we have embarked on readership promotion. Last year, we had the promotion in Abuja. We also intend to do that in all the states of the federation. We wish to tell people that when they read they know more about their environment and other places far away from them. We also wish to tell them that reading makes them more empowered.

Why is the FG focused only on libraries in towns and cities, while school libraries in rural areas are in a sorry state?

The mandate given to us by the decree that established the National Library of Nigeria is to see to affairs of the National Library Headquarters, Abuja, and its state branches. The decree also mandated that the National Library should have branches all over the states and the Federal Capital Territory. We are more concerned with the libraries in the state capitals because they are directly under our supervision. Libraries in the universities, polytechnic and other tertiary institutions belong to their various institutions. And since they have a different act establishing them, the libraries are their properties and they manage them themselves.  Similarly, we are not responsible for the libraries owned by the state, for they are properties of the respective states.

There are states that are yet benefit from the National Library. Why is this so?

For now, we have the National Library in 23 states, for example, in the North-east we are still trying to build our prototype structures. But in several states we have been operating from buildings donated by the state governments. We have just completed the branch in Gombe, which we shall commission very soon. We have almost reached 90% completion of the National Library in Bauchi and Adamawa. We are still operating in a building donated by the government for our library in Taraba State. But for Borno State, when I pleaded with the government to give us a temporary building to establish our library, the governor said having a temporary building was not going to solve the problem, but we should get a land to build our prototype. They said they are going to give us land. But since April last year, we have not heard anything from them. If they are able to provide us with the land, we will see if we can put the cost of the building in our budget for next year. Yobe State government has given us a temporary structure for the take off, as well as a permanent site to build the library. We have some money in the budget of this year that will be used to procure equipment for the Yobe library. So in the North-east we can say that it is only in Borno that we do not have the presence of the National Library, because they have not given us a temporary [site]. We hope that by the end of this year we will have feasible libraries in five states in the North-east that will meet the standard of libraries in America and the other developed nations.   

Apart from building libraries, what other projects have you undertaken since assuming office as the chairman of the board?

We have been able to provide information and communication technology (ICT) in our libraries, which provide quick access to books and journals. If a book is published today in Europe and America, within 24 hours we can access it here. We have also renovated and equipped some existing libraries.   We have also promoted staff and trained those that need training. Most people that have been staff of the library board for the past 25 years have praised this current board as one of the best in the past 25 years. We recently commissioned a prototype structure in Owerri, which has the capacity for 500 people. Also this year, we are going to have a ground breaking ceremony for the commissioning of our libraries in Yobe, Ebonyi, Osun and Katsina states.

What measures are you taking to ensure that the libraries don’t remain empty because of the attitudes of our youths?

We have also mandated the heads of branches to organise promotions to educate people on the importance of the library, and also to tell them what we have in stock. This will ensure that people imbibe the reading culture. In those days we use to have Assistant Directors heading the branch offices, but now the board has made it a standard for deputy directors to head bigger branches. These are people that have spent years in the service and are ready to do their best anytime any day.  In addition we have decided to monitor our equipments and books with circuit cameras to make sure that people do not steal our books and other materials.