WBD: Plateau authors chair seeks revival of reading culture

By Patience Aliyu

As the world marks the United Nations World Book and Copyright Day, Mr Victor Jatau, Chairman, Plateau chapter of the Association of Authors, has urged stakeholders to work toward reviving the dwindling culture of reading.

He spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) when he joined his colleagues to mark the day at the National Library on Monday in Jos.

NAN reports that The World Book Day is celebrated on 23rd April annually.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Indigenous Languages”, which focuses on the native languages of a country.

Jatau, who expressed dismay at the current rate of reading and writing amongst youths in Nigeria, regretted that it is on the decline following the increased rate of exposure of young people to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

He called on all stakeholders involved in the grooming of children, especially parents, to ensure that the culture of reading did not die due to over-reliance on the internet and gadgets by the younger generation.

“Sadly, the culture of reading is gradually dwindling and that is because of the kind of homes that children grow up in, these days; they don’t see their parents eading and so they do not learn how to read.

“Now, we are faced with artificial intelligence, but, you see, I believe that there is no way artificial intelligence can usurp the power of the natural intelligence.

“In fact, research has proven that there is a connection between the mind and the heart; reading of the physical or natural book without going to the internet has the propensity to keep knowledge in your mind for a long time.

“Though we are at the age of information where we have unlimited access to information at our disposal, our forefathers were better informed and enlightened than us due to their reading culture.

“We tend to be in an age where we have access to information, but we tend to be the most boring and the most backward age in terms of education and even in knowledge.

“When you look at our forefathers in the past, they only read books without going to the internet and they were doing very well, but here, we have ample access to the internet but we’re not doing well at all.

“When you check the reports of WAEC or NECO result, you will see the manifestation of the terrible nature of our reading culture; our inability to actually sit down and read books is affecting the quality of our education,” he said.

Similarly, Mrs Sarah Emmanuel, Head of the National Library in Plateau, said she organised a myriad of events in collaboration with an NGO, to help revive the children’s interest in reading.

She also called on relevant stakeholders, especially parents and government, to help prevent the decline in the culture of reading among youths in the country

“To commemorate this years WBD, which is focused on indigenous languages, we organised some events for children of the Aderonke Foundation, to help increase their interests in reading and writing.

“Some of the events include a tour of the library, pep talk on Library values, practicals on computer usage, display of materials published by Plateau indigenes, among others.

“We hope that parents will pay attention to their children’s upbringing, particularly with their reading culture. We also hope that government will help create avenues to revive the dwindling culture of reading observed in the society today,” she said.

Miss Hope Philip and Master Hosea Ajang, participants at the Library tour, expressed joy at being part of the WBD celebration.

“We were encouraged never to stop reading physical books as it is inmensely beneficial,” they both told NAN.

(NAN)