Booksellers elect officers

The Managing Director of CSS Bookshops Limited, Michael Dare Oluwatuyi, has been re-elected president of the Booksellers Association of Nigeria (BAN) to drive the body’s vision from 2019 to 2021. Other officials elected to the BAN’s executive committee are Moses McDaniel (Vice President (North), Wilson Moneme (Vice President, East), Henry Ekom Itauma (General Secretary), Mohammed […]

The Managing Director of CSS Bookshops Limited, Michael Dare Oluwatuyi, has been re-elected president of the Booksellers Association of Nigeria (BAN) to drive the body’s vision from 2019 to 2021.

Other officials elected to the BAN’s executive committee are Moses McDaniel (Vice President (North), Wilson Moneme (Vice President, East), Henry Ekom Itauma (General Secretary), Mohammed Garuba (Assistant General Secretary), Rakeeb Akinyanbi (Financial Secretary), Robert Lawson (Treasurer) and Michael Adewoye (Public Relations Officer).

The immediate past president of the association, David Popoola, and Dorothy Esinalo, were elected as ex-officio members.

A former president of the association, Lanre Adesuyi, enjoined the new executive council members to work hard at giving voice to the vision of the association as an important component of Nigeria’s growing publishing industry.

Pioneer president of the Nigerian Book Fair Trust, Dayo Alabi, also urged the team to be committed and ready to sacrifice time and ample resources towards returning bookselling to its former pride of place in educating the nation.

Oluwatuyi told journalists he would use best endeavours to rebuild BAN in regaining the past vibrancy that made booksellers worthy partners in efficient book publishing and distribution in Nigeria.

“We shall embark on qualitative membership and revenue drive, as well as engage in training and capacity building to elicit good rapport among members. This will enable us to once more become a respected voice among sister associations in the publishing industry,” he said.

The BAN president further said that registered booksellers would vigorously fight piracy, which, he noted, had given members of the association a bad name. “We shall identify the few bad eggs among us and read the riot act to them. And if they don’t change, we shall delist them and report them to the appropriate authorities,” he said.