Readers on reading: your responses

In addition to several articles highlighting online academic resources and many articles on literature, I have conducted interviews with the secretary of Jos-ANA Onotu David Onimisi, who helped start a community library in Jos; Kingsley Sintim, who helped start Tasha Community Library outside of Abuja; and the American librarian Elizabeth Chase. Here are a few […]

In addition to several articles highlighting online academic resources and many articles on literature, I have conducted interviews with the secretary of Jos-ANA Onotu David Onimisi, who helped start a community library in Jos; Kingsley Sintim, who helped start Tasha Community Library outside of Abuja; and the American librarian Elizabeth Chase. Here are a few of the responses (edited for length) I’ve received on the topic of libraries, books, and reading culture, which speak to the need to make books and information more available and to the progress that is being made. I am always grateful for the responses of my readers. – Carmen
Professor Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan of the Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, who has put much of his academic work online, wrote after my January column on how Nigerians can contribute to knowledge online: “Great job in provoking Nigerians to grab the moment and register their presence. Can you look at other disciplines or professional groups online such as law or legal profession or legal education or law professors or law publications? Eg. Prof. N. J Udombana. I believe that your target group needing inspiration from Nigerian scholars are beyond the discipline of arts. Or to avoid being selective why not try Nigerian Universities Online.”
In response to my January article about Aaron Schwartz, the freedom-of-information activist who committed suicide after being harshly prosecuted in the United States for making academic articles from the database J-STOR available online, Abubakar Sani Hassan of the Institute of Energy at the Cardiff School of Engineering in Wales wrote, “Nice article about Aaron, I was impressed and moved when I first read about the young man’s contribution within his few yet eventful years in this world. I always felt that those of us that have access to privileged information need to share with those that do not have access to such information. In my field of engineering, I always keep my collections of materials I have used in the process of my research well documented because I know it will definitely benefit someone especially back home. May his legacy of sharing knowledge continue especially within the young generation, that is the future of the world.”
Dr. K. Korb, Head of the Department of General and Applied Psychology at the University of Jos wrote in February on the educational importance of reading for pleasure. “As a young girl living in the United States, I loved to read, primarily novels and historical fiction. However, in junior secondary school, my friends mocked me because I read so much. Because of the peer pressure to fit in, I stopped reading except what was absolutely necessary to pass my school exams. The first time I took the American university-entrance exam, the ACT, I performed quite well on most subjects, except for English. My score for English was considerably below average and would have prevented me from getting the admission that I wanted. From that point, I started reading again, materials beyond my schoolbooks. I read novels, classics, fantasy, and any other books I could put my hands on. I didn’t do any other test preparation other than read for pleasure. One year later, I re-took the university-entrance exam. This time, my English score was only 1 point away from a perfect score, and I received my first choice in admission, together with a merit scholarship.”
One of my most faithful readers, Abdul Hassan in Jos wrote me in January after my review of Labo Yari’s novel Climate of Corruption, “After I finished reading your article, I went to more than 30 book shops, asking for the works of Labo Yari. Some of the book shops owners said they did not know anything about Climate of Corruption. On way to my house, I met my English teacher, who told me I cannot get it here in Jos. My fellow students are lacking reading culture.” In June he wrote, “I went to Plateau State library on Saturday. I feel unhappy about the library decoration and the shelves as whole. There is heavy dust on all the books, the floor is completely cracked and distorted. Today I visited Government Secondary Larantor. The library is lacking new materials. WE ARE LACKING READING MATERIALS.”
In response to my July review of Balaraba Ramat Yakubu’s novel Wa Zai Auri Jahila?, Fauziya Kabir wrote: “I really enjoyed your column this week. Wa Zai Auri Jahila? is one of my all-time favourite novels. In 2009, I roamed the whole of Sabongari market in Kano searching for it but to no avail. I later contacted Professor Abdalla U Adamu who told me the book was not available in the market. I’m so excited that Hajiya Balaraba has plans of printing new copies. It will be great if you let us know when the new copies are out in the market.”
In July, Panam David Agboh from Wusasa Business School wrote, “Thank you for advocating for literacy and libraries. I write to inform you about another library set up by an individual. Wusasa Business School, under the leadership of her founder, Andrew Gani-Ikilama, has opened her library to members of the public who register. The library is located at Media Service Centre on Independence Way, Kaduna.”
Dr. Aliyu Ibrahim Kankara, a lecturer of Geology at Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, wrote the most extensive response, which I’ve edited here:
“I was touched by your concern in your column of February 16th 2013 about the degraded library and readership condition in Nigeria. The mindset and psychology of Nigerians are not tilted towards achieving ‘writing as a tool for National development’. One must understand that writing and reading culture revolutionize a society but more often in the developed and open societies. You and I are unhappy with the level of progress most libraries in Nigeria are making so far. Corruption, greed, unruly conditions, rascality of the assembly houses, self-centeredness or diversion of treasury money to personal accounts without giving much adherence to education result in the condition libraries are in today. This disastrous lack of reading and writing is more pronounced in the north where education is at its lowest ebb.
 An ancient Chinese proverb says: “To get through the hardest journey we need to take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.” How many thousands of steps have we lost? Look Carmen, 80% of our university graduates from both southern and northern parts are illiterates, incompetent, unqualifiable to graduate, inexperienced and above all unemployed.
Of particular importance is your description of the role your mumsy played in inculcating the reading habit in you since when you were a toddler in the US, to periods when you gather on floors to watch children films. It was marvelous that as young as you were, you ended days by checking out a stack of books. Reading contests are not organized in our culture here, as it is obtainable in US.  Establishing and maintaining reading culture, which can be transformed into writing and subsequent changing of our thinking and attitudes and putting the society at a revolution point are the responsibilities of our parents and governments. But parents do not teach and encourage their children to go to public libraries. For instance, around the year 2000 the government of Katsina State rehabilitated 7 public libraries of the then 7 former local governments in which some handful number of books were kept for public and children’s use, but up till today the libraries are left abandoned, unpatronized.
If there is no renaissance in reading, we cannot compete with the outside or modern world. If we do not develop our reading culture, how do we access our past and see how we can shape our coming future? How can we see the level of development we have reached when compared to other developed societies?  If we do not develop our reading culture, how do we understand our cultures and other people’s cultures? It is reading that shapes the society.
I am, however, impressed by your observation that housewives and adolescent girls and boys in our Hausa land have developed a Hausa book renting clubs and personal collections. That is an important milestone in the reading domain in our society. I am also glad to identify some moves made by Jos ANA and American Corner Library Jos to explore and revive readership. I do hope that our Katsina ANA can emulate that too, and I am positive if Government of Katsina be invited to intervene, it could. Kudos to your concern and effort.”