In functional societies, reading should be done in order to increase knowledge and awareness. It seems that our society is yet to achieve that level of functionality, or we simply do not care. Why has it been this difficult for the youths to cultivate the reading habit? What is it that seems to scare them from books? Have we considered the potential long-term effects of our poor reading culture on our society and the overall literacy level?
The complacent attitude towards books seems to form at very early ages – children in nursery and primary schools are hardly encouraged in schools and at home to pick up a book and read. Even in our secondary schools, students are being spoon-fed and not allowed to read and find information for themselves. There are books that have summaries of literary works, including the subject matters and themes as well as literary works. The import of this is that these students do not think it necessary to read the actual books and find out information for themselves. The invariable consequence is that our school system and society is producing people that are functionally literate, but effectively ignorant.
Since the advent of electronic revolution in all aspects of life, the reading and learning culture in Nigeria gradually declined thereby affecting the quality of graduates churned out from schools across the country.
Having established that the reading culture in Nigeria is very poor, and frankly, largely absent in large parts of the country, the question comes up: What can be done to improve this situation? What can individuals, parents, teachers and the wider community do to improve Nigeria’s reading culture? Perhaps, it may be time to move away from the traditional and explore the unconventional. It may be time to ask: What exactly are we doing to improve the reading culture in Nigeria?
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