Anthony Iwuoma
The senator, representing Imo North in the Red Chambers, Sen. Frank Chukwuma Ibezim, has charged private organisations to collaborate with the government in efforts to revive the poor reading culture among Nigerian students.
He gave the charge while moving the motion at plenary, noting the concern of the senate as regards the troubling condition, which has affected the quality of education in the country.
Addressing the senate, Ibezim, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, urged the Federal Government to promote the development of classroom/modern libraries and thereby foster a robust reading culture in Nigerian students.
READ ALSO: http://Chaos in Ebonyi over IPOB’s enforcement of sit-at-home order
According to him: “The senate notes with concern the recent decline in reading culture amongst most Nigerians which is even more visible in schools, beginning from the basic years of primary schools through secondary and tertiary institutions,” adding that the decline “has reached an alarming rate and is to be addressed urgently before it worsens.”
Sen. Ibezim frowned at the culture in the educational system where emphasis is on memorising text instead of practical training and blamed this on lack of well-equipped library facilities, inaccessible libraries and ridiculously low patronage of the same by students even where available.
He said this was unlike in the 80’s and 90’s when public libraries were fully equipped and accessible to the general public, and the reading culture of most Nigerians rated high.
Speaking further, Ibezim said: “The senate further observed that Nigeria has one of the highest number of school age children, who are not enrolled in school and some have dropped out of school,” as statistics had that “over 10 million children in Nigeria are out of school, which is the highest rate in the world.”
This, he noted “may most likely translate to the inability to read fluently and it goes without saying that such out of school children cannot have a reading culture. Today, quite a number of secondary school students in Nigeria cannot read simple sentences nor speak grammatically correct English language, which is Nigeria’s lingua franca. There are some students in the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, who cannot read fluently.
READ ALSO: http://I’ll negotiate with IPOB on State of Biafra, says Atiku
“The Senate is further concerned that the society with a poor reading culture would have a leadership crisis because of the dearth of knowledgeable leaders since these school age students in focus are the future leaders of our great country, Nigeria. Lack of a good reading culture also affects the ability to tolerate one another; as one who does not read, has no knowledge of happenings in other diversified and technologically advanced countries.
“The senate observes that at individual level, reading culture aids personal development and success in life while lack of it has affected a good number of Nigerians. Not surprisingly, lack of reading culture is also the reason students are not performing well academically in schools today, as they fail to read and understand instructions,” Ibezim added, disturbed that the national library project is struggling with no hope in sight.
“Also, the national library of Nigeria is not expanding its branches across the country nor is it rehabilitating existing ones to encourage Nigerians to cultivate a good reading culture. The senate is further disturbed that the absence of modern library facilities in major cities and towns across the countries is negatively affecting the reading culture of Nigeria.”
Sen. Ibezim noted that even private libraries are not faring better even though they are meant to act as supplementary libraries, supporting the public libraries but lack capacity to accommodate a large number of Nigerians, who desire to develop a good reading culture.
Therefore, Ibezim, who has since his inauguration, been promoting the establishment of classroom libraries across the country, disclosed further: “Senate is convinced that there is an urgent need for the senate to act speedily and call for collaboration between relevant stakeholders in Nigeria education sector, who can assist in making the issues of cultivating reading culture a national issue with a view to addressing the challenge that limits access to public libraries.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: http://Constitution Review: Senate President lobbies Gov. el-Rufai to prevail on his colleagues in states
To encourage reading culture among Nigerians, “senate is further convinced that the Federal Government could work in synergy with the private library owners by granting them tax reliefs, which would encourage them to offer easier access to their library facilities and ultimately encourage students and the general public to take up reading and develop a reading culture.”
Consequently, the Ibezim, the Senate Committee Chairman moved a motion for the senate to:
- Mandate the committee of education, basic and secondary, to interact with the Minister of Education with a view to receiving briefing from the minister on what has been achieved so far, regarding the provisions of library facilities in schools across Nigeria and to report back within two weeks.
- Mandate the committee of FCT to interact with the minister with a view to ascertaining the state of public library facilities across the FCT and arriving at a practical solution to encourage the culture of reading among Nigerian students and the general public.
- Direct UBEC and other relevant MDAs to remain the future of Nigeria’s private libraries in primaries one and two classrooms, to improve reading culture and enhance foundational education.
- Urge the general public to take seriously the issue of reading and imbibe a good reading culture, which has the potential to assist the government sectors on integration and religious tolerance.
- All the relevant education stakeholders rise to the occasion and create awareness through campaigns and the necessity of cultivating a good reading culture.
6) And lastly, urge the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the ministries of education across the various states of the federation to set a day aside as an annual reading day to draw attention to the importance of a viral reading culture to national development.
