NIBF proffers remedy for poor reading culture

Abiodun Omotubi, executive secretary Nigeria Book Fair Trust (NBFT)  organisers of the fair told our correspondent that the theme of this year’s international book fair ‘the state of infrastructure, rural development in Africa and the future of the book trade’ is deliberate. According to him, they “considered that the only way we can enhance reading […]

Abiodun Omotubi, executive secretary Nigeria Book Fair Trust (NBFT)  organisers of the fair told our correspondent that the theme of this year’s international book fair ‘the state of infrastructure, rural development in Africa and the future of the book trade’ is deliberate.

According to him, they “considered that the only way we can enhance reading culture in Africa is the provision of infrastructure by government. It is extremely difficult to read when you are not comfortable. No electricity, no good roads, no water, no good schools, how can you read comfortably? This is why we focus on infrastructure development this year and we talked at length on how government can come to our aid and put in place infrastructure to encourage reading.”

“Also, poverty is too high in Nigeria. This is hampering the book project. Nigerians need to read. There is no way Nigerians can contribute to the development of this nation without being enlightened. That is why we are telling the government to improve the infrastructure, create employment and reduce poverty. This will help improve reading culture in Nigeria,” he noted.

On the book fair concept he explained thus. “This is the 11th edition. Our focus is to promote reading culture in Nigeria. We organise the book fair to create a platform for all the industry stakeholders to come together to interact and share ideas.

This year is quite different from past exhibitions. We had more than enough exhibitors. We had to turn down some ten applications.”

“The number of visitors this year surpassed previous years.  Besides the books exhibited, we have staged various programmes. We have had children programmes; we have had workshops and seminars; we had an international conference and some other programmes. These programmes were put together to encourage stake holders to read. It also afforded them the opportunity to interact, share knowledge and interface among themselves,” he explained.

“For the past nine years we have had the fair in Lagos for obvious reasons. This is where the book market really is. But we also have national book fair in Lagos, Enugu and Abuja. It is almost like the international one,” he noted.

Ifeoma Obi, an exhibitor also commented. She said the Association of Nigerian Authors had symposium where authors came together and shared their minds on issues affecting writers.

“They also deliberated on how to inspire people to read more as well as device new creative ways of getting their books sold like ebooks and CD roms options,” she said.

According to her, the dominant issues affecting book reading in Nigeria is poverty. “A lot of Nigerians this days are busy trying to make ends meet, they hardly have time to read.”

Peter Anosike, a journalist and author whose books were also exhibited also agreed poverty is affecting reading culture in Nigeria.

“My books have been exhibited. I am the author of Dangote, 10 Commandments on Money. Which is selling fast all over the world because it is on Amazon.com. I also authored Mastering Your Destiny. The challenge is not the reading culture but the economy that is affecting reading culture. You read during leisure but where you do not have leisure time because you are struggling to make ends meet, how do you read?

Some complain that the prices of the books are not affordable. It’s not the culture and the purse.”