Customs duties, forex hindering learning – Halita Aliyu
Hajiya Halita Aliyu was General Manager of Human Resources at Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) where she was also a full-time board member. She is presently owner of Tarbiyah Books Plus. Here, she talks about why she runs a bookstore, its challenges and more. Excerpts: Bookshelf: Why did you decide to establish a bookshop in […]
Hajiya Halita Aliyu was General Manager of Human Resources at Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) where she was also a full-time board member. She is presently owner of Tarbiyah Books Plus. Here, she talks about why she runs a bookstore, its challenges and more. Excerpts:
Bookshelf: Why did you decide to establish a bookshop in Abuja?
Hajiya Halita Aliyu: There are a number of reasons. The first is a modest attempt at an intervention in the upbringing and nurturing of children. I noticed that there is a disconnect between what our religion teaches and the way children are being brought up. This has manifested itself into a very serious problem, especially with the insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country.
The other reason is that, as a girl-child growing up in Maiduguri, I found that books were very liberating. Before I ever stepped out of the city, I had, through books, travelled all over the world. As a child growing up, I discovered that books widen your vista and horizon. It was a liberating force. That was when my passion and interest started and since then it has grown.
Also, I have several grandchildren, alhamdulillah. My first grandson is an avid reader. Often times, I noticed that books have to be brought from abroad, or at the very least, people have to travel to Lagos before you can find age-appropriate books. It seemed logical to bring books that have the capacity of changing the lives of readers as part of my contribution. A lot of them have very powerful, lifechanging themes. Initially we started as a children’s Islamic bookshop because I felt that if you focus on the children, get them to read and raise them correctly, then you have probably started sorting out some of the societal problems and challenges. We later realised we needed books on family values, because for you to nurture, empower and inspire the young ones, you need a very stable home environment. Therefore, we started bringing books on family values, marriage, and generally books that would influence parents themselves to behave properly towards one another and be useful members of the community. Again, we felt that we should bring management books, because it is a competitive world. Part of the challenges of Nigeria is that you find very senior and responsible people in positions of leadership that are not well-read. So, their take on problems is not as analytic and in-depth as it should be. We started providing books on leadership, management and business.
As time went along, we had people of other faith, especially our Christian brethren who felt disappointed when they came in and saw largely a selection of Islamic books. So, we started catering for them by bringing in relationship books. Again, the focus is on family and upbringing of children, because if the family is a cohesive unit, works well and children are well brought up, then some of the societal ills and problems we are currently experiencing will be minimised. It is now a full-blown bookshop catering for all strata of society and faith.
We go to very far locations and different publishers to bring books that will impact our readers positively. There is a special arrangement where you can order for a book and we will source it for you. Even books that are out of print.
Bookshelf: When was the bookshop established?
Hajiya Aliyu: It was about four years ago. We started modestly with a few cartons of books and moved to where we are to a bookshop that offers multiple genres of books.
Bookshelf: What challenges have you faced so far in the publishing business?
Hajiya Aliyu: It’s not a very profitable venture because people do not like reading. Unfortunately, during the last regime, government decided to put twenty per cent surcharge on books when you are importing. There is the Custom Imports Supervision Scheme (CISS) and ECOWAS Trade Levy Scheme. This is in addition to bringing the goods by air, because you cannot bring a container of goods. The market does not have an absorptive capacity for books.
Other challenges we have is that you cannot even apply for Foreign Exchange directly from your bank or the Central Bank because of the requirement of a Standards Organisation of Nigeria Certificate (SONCAP). We first have to get the SONCAP. So, if there are ten thousand different titles, it means theoretically that I have to talk to ten thousand publishers to get a SONCAP. If you are selling faith-based books, particularly one like the Qur’an of Bible, who do you ask for SONCAP? So, they just put unnecessary hurdles in the way of learning and this affects access to good books and well-equipped libraries. In yesteryears when we were young, in a place like Maiduguri there was a public library. Even if ones’ parents donot have books or are not educated, you could go to a school or public library. If you look at the budgetary allocation for the development of libraries, you will be very disappointed.
I will like to use this opportunity to appeal to the Minister of Education and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs to look for ways and means of making it easy to bring books into the country. Books can change the lives of our youth and inspire them to do great things with their lives. The difference between a person who is well-read and one who is not is always very clear. If books and education was made a critical factor, our problems would have been minimised. We need to find different ways to get our youths involved in productive ventures. A book on business start-up, for example, can show you step-by-step how to incorporate a company.
Bookshelf: What books get the most patronage in Tarbiyah Books Plus?
Hajiya Aliyu: There are Christian and Islamic books on marriage and relationships. Incidentally, the bulk of our customers are women, probably because as mothers also they come to get books for their kids.
Bookshelf: Do you have plans to go into publishing?
Hajiya Aliyu: Yes, it’s a long-term plan. You may publish books and not be able to sell up to a hundred copies in a whole year. The quantity also makes it either profitable or expensive. If you publish few copies the cost would be high, if they are many, the absorptive capacity of the market is very limited and this makes it difficult to sell. But we hope to publish, and fortunately there are new technologies where you publish based on demand.
Bookshelf: What in your opinion would encourage more Nigerians to read?
Hajiya Aliyu: I think part of the constraint is the availability of books, from the point of getting the right titles and also cost. Because of the levies I have earlier mentioned, obviously every surcharge and cost incurred in getting books into the country makes it more expensive. This makes it more out of the common Nigerian’s reach. We need to go back to the old system and make books duty free. The concerns of government could easily be addressed, because I know government also doesn’t want books that will radicalise young people. So, they can simply ban such books. If we are able to drive the books cost effectively, a lot of people can walk into any bookshop and find a pocket friendly edition of a book.
The second thing is that, we need to find ways and means, either as Nongovernmental Organisations or Civil Societies, of creating public libraries. I once read about a library in Benue State that hasn’t acquired up to a thousand books in the last twenty years, yet the staff kept going to work and earned a salary. The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has this library near Etiebet House that hasn’t been completed. So, government needs to step up and ensure there are public libraries. The National Library in Abuja is also very dilapidated and lacks current books. Latest books we had here on the White House and Donald Trump are completely sold-out. We try to go with things that are trending. We strive to bring in books that are on the New York Times bestseller list. Organisations also need to create libraries.