Nigeria’s woes traced to poor reading culture by politicians
By Dennis Agbo
The Nigeria Publishers Association NPA, and the Nigeria Copyright Commission NCC, have blamed the leadership incapability’s in Nigeria on lack of reading by the political class.
The group and agency, however, identified some leaders whom they said do well in governance because they read books.They cited an example of a certain governor in South-West, whom they said reads and is reflected in his leadership.
“Low readership is the bane of educational and national development”
They also urged parents to always read their children to sleep, noting that books were the life wire of any country.
The group made the recommendations during a press conference to mark the 2022 World Book and Copyright Day in Enugu, on Saturday.
President of Nigeria Publishers Association Dr. Uchenna Anioke, speaking on the theme: ‘Read… So You Never Feel Alone,’ advised that whenever anyone begins to think that the world was a lonely place, such a person should get a book and read.
He proposed that every individual should read nothing less than one book per week.“Reading can be so much fun. Our leaders don’t read and that is why when you talk about economy, they mix things up. Only very few leaders read and those ones, when they speak, they speak from knowledge. Readers are leaders, but conversely, in Nigeria, leaders are not readers,”
Anioke said.He noted that intellectual theft was worse that armed robbery. He congratulated the Nigeria Senate for its recent amendment of the Copyright Act and urged the House of Representatives to pass the same amendment so as make book reading more attractive. Anioke also urged government at all levels to rehabilitate the public libraries described as antiquated, isolated, dilapidated and not updated with modern books.
Coordinator of South-South/South-East Directorate of the Nigeria Copyright Commission, Mrs Ngozi Okeke stated that NCC supports children with books to build their reading culture.
“We advise them to read one book a day. As a commission, we believe in catching the children young. That’s why we partner with other bodies and regulators to support the children’s reading culture,” Okeke said.