By Simeon Mpamugoh
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Alrange Books And Journals Ltd., Ekom Henry Itauma, has reiterated that experience had shown that the culture of reading was gradually going down.
He stressed that the Interest in books was dwindling and that it was a part of Nigeria’s emerging tragedy: “Generally I would say that the reading culture is not too good yet there are still some Nigerian students and scholars who are upbeat in their field. They are always updating themselves in their professional practice. These sets of people come to us periodically to get materials for their practice and to equip their libraries and book shelves.”
He noted that the demand for books might not be as it was because of the general economic constraints. He said people were still buying their choice book, because they believed that “Knowledge is power.” The journalist-turned entrepreneur urged those who would like to advance in their careers either as landscape architects, builders, space planners and interior decorators to keep track of books and keep reading.
“Year after year, there is additional information that keeps practitioners in different fields on track. The development has also brought teachers on the new fields in engineering such as robotics and mechatronics which is the focus of today’s engineering. And books on those fields cannot be gotten from book hawkers on the streets.
“On our part, we follow the training and practice of engineering: structural, civil, mechanical, petroleum, system and electrical/electronic, and bring in the materials, feed our system and faculties of engineering in different schools and institutions in the country.”
He noted that students were no more interested in books, tracing it to the economic situation. “Some books have gone out of the reach of students. Some novels have gone extinct. For instance, the African Writers’ series we used to buy cheap, we no longer see them again, even the pirated copies.
“Books written by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Amos Tutuola, and Cyprian Ekwensi are equally scarce today. In those days, we used to have the pacesetters series for young students to read, upgrade themselves, raise their mental capacity and literacy skills, but, today, those books have almost gone extinct.
“These are some of the challenges those of us in the book sector are trying to address with some of the non-government organisations we partner with to supply the books quarterly, such as the Network of Book Readers and Reading Promotions of Nigeria and Network of Book Clubs.
“We also form a charter for them, and encourage schools to set up book clubs from primary, secondary, and tertiary education. We engage some of these schools using the network, which are set up for encouragement and advocacy on improving the reading culture.
“Last year, we partnered with one of our members in Uyo Book Club, Mr John Obot, on the promotion of the reading culture through the sponsorship of Readmania. It was a successful attempt Obot made to raise awareness. Today, he is the holder of the latest record of reading for so many hours which increased the awareness in primary schools. We also have Junior Book Clubs in private and public schools.
“We encourage parents to also read to show examples to their children, because what children see their parents do, they tend to emulate. So, reading should be fun and a lifelong experience and should not end when one has graduated from the university,” he advised.
A graduate of English and Literary Studies , University of Calabar and Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) holder in Public Health and Environmental Management., Itauma is the General Secretary, Book Sellers Association of Nigeria (BAN). “At the professional level, BAN has set up some book clubs and financed them. We also have partnership with Nigeria Publishers Association (NPA) and National Library of Nigeria to promote the setting up of book clubs through a mandate tagged 775 initiatives which aims to set up libraries and book clubs in all the local governments in Nigeria,” he said.
“We are also in partnership with the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC). And BAN and Network of Book Clubs are working to drive reading culture through the schools and community initiatives by gathering young people, and giving them books such as children literature, history, autobiography, biographies, short stories, novels etcetera. They read to us and also write poems. Some of them have gone ahead to win awards. The Nigeria Prize For Literature, sponsored by Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), is also in partnership with us, all aimed at encouraging scholarship and readership.”