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By Damiete Braide
It was an exciting, interactive and educative session during the just concluded Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF) when book lovers and enthusiasts discussed the United Nations Social Development Goals (SDG) Book Club’s discussion in Lagos. The second day session was moderated by Sola Alamutu.
In his address of welcome, President, Nigerian Booksellers Association (BAN), and member, Pan African Booksellers Association, Dare Oluwatuyi, told the gathering there were so many booksellers in the country willing to distribute books related to SDG’s goals when published. Oluwatuyi, who is also a member of the Management Committee, SDG Book Club African Chapter, and Managing Director of CSS Bookshops, stated BAN’s role was to ensure that children get these books without hassles.
In his words, “The books are displayed at bookshops and are distributed to schools and the general public. We will also interact with librarians to ensure that the books are kept in their libraries and people who patronise the libraries will have access and read to these books.” He noted that, though the books were not core curriculum-based books, they were fictional books based on African culture.
Oluwatuyi blamed logistics as the major impediment, because these books were published in different countries in Africa and BAN was discussing with Pan African Booksellers Association on how to circulate them through regional bodies.
Also, Dr Wale Okediran, Secretary General, Pan African Writers Association, (PAWA) and Chair of Management Committee, SDG Book Club African Chapter, said the duty of PAWA was to coordinate all the activities of PAWA in Africa. Okediran disclosed that the writers’ body “discovered that on the SDG goals, we don’t have so many authors who have written on these subjects. We also discovered that our counterparts in the Western countries have more books on SDG and tried to dominate the African market but PAWA stood against it.
“The SDG is a four-year project with a lot of marketing potentials and we discovered that if care was not taken, our continent will be flooded with books written by western authors and western publishers, and we decided to organise a workshop for writers in these languages on how to they can write books on SGD goals,” he added.
Olatoun Gabby-Williams, a member of the Global Book Club in Africa, in her presentation on the theme, “Children’s Literature and Sustainable Development”, informed that The Global Club existed in Chinese, Russia, Spanish, French, English, while its publication in Africa was through English, French, Arabic and Swahili.
He assured, “We are going to promote the SDG goals through the promotion of children’s literature, and our club is the second biggest in size and vision among other clubs in the world.”
Ernest Oppong, Acting Executive Director, African Publishers Network (APNET), and member of Management Committee, SDG Book Club African Chapter, said SGD African Book Club had come to stay and the selection process of books were transparent. Some of the benefits of SDG African Book CLUB, he said, included the promotion of books and reading to children in Africa.
