A lot of people find it convenient to scoff at books. Especially in this part of the world, we tend to look down on books as being boring, tasking and unexciting.
Most people gravitate towards other forms of entertainment like music, movies and dance for their pleasure. There is even a common saying that, “If you want to hide a secret from a Nigerian, keep it in a book.” How insulting! To even think that some people say that with glee…..yuck!
He who can read but does not read is worse than she who can’t write at all.
Books contain a world of treasures. Books have the power to transform your life and widen your horizon. They often possess the ability to take you beyond your world. And yet a lot of people still don’t pay attention to books.
However, it is not a peculiar Nigerian phenomenom as this trend seems to be revealing itself worldwide. the population of readers is on a rapid decline and my fear is that if nothing is urgently to arrest this ugly situation, the book will become extinct before a long time.
We also need to grow beyond the conventional thinking that a book has to come in print. No! The world hasn’t changed so much that the printed book has been discarded, but the ways by which we can read and pick up information has been broadened into so many channels.
We have e-books and books can also come in audio versions. The bottom line is that the the flow of information must not be stiffled.
Of course, government has its fair share of the blame because reading hasn’t being made attractive enough. The big companies also have a slice of the ‘blame pie.’ We have so many musical competitions, dance competitions, even cooking competitions, but how many reading competitions do we have? Your guess is as good as mine, zilch!
Essentially, we are flagging off a campaign and our ultimate motive is to get Mr. Books elected for a limitless tenure. We can do it.
Please stay tuned for more details.
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