Nigeria’s Vibrant Reading Culture —Akunna Ejim   

Akunna Ejim

Suffice it to say that this is one topic that I am extremely familiar with. I grew up surrounded by books. I have a mother who loved reading so much that she had a library installed in our house. I have early memories of the nursery rhymes and of pictures in the books which have stayed with me to this day. If I close my eyes, I can remember the nightly chorus of the cow jumping over the moon and Polly putting the kettle on.  I remember loving to read so much that I couldn’t understand the people who seemed to have difficulty doing so. There was a girl in my kindergarten class who struggled with words, and it was just incomprehensible because it came as naturally as breathing to me. Of course, in my childhood ignorance, I didn’t know about dyslexia, but in my own defence, neither did the teachers; everybody assumed the poor child was just slow.

I was not by any means a bookworm, but I did love to read a lot. My mother obliged me by buying lots of books for me.  Once, while shopping for things to go back to school with, she bought me some novels. I was reading one of them—a very interesting book, I might add—when someone asked to borrow my book, right in the middle of the story. I refused. She cried buckets of tears that day, swearing that she would return the book the next day. I had a test to prepare for, and so I reluctantly gave her the book. I never saw the girl nor my book again. It turns out she was changing schools, and that was her last day in my school. When it dawned on me that I would not be getting my book back, it was my turn to cry buckets of tears. It was not so much the book itself as the story which I would never get to finish.

This love of books was quite normal to me because due to my mother’s cache of books, people were always coming to our house to borrow books. Some of them, we didn’t even know. They would know somebody, who knew somebody, who knew that my mother had really nice books and they would bring that person to stand surety that they would return the books. Needless to say, some of them never returned the books they borrowed. Sometimes, my friends would come over to borrow books and if I disagreed, they would bide their time and steal the book temporarily. Then they would go to a place where they could read the book in peace. Later, they would return the book. They used to call it, “the hard way, the only way!”  When I started buying books myself, I discovered that there were a lot of people who loved to read just as much as I did.  I have a long list of favourite authors, and I found out that so many other people actually go from place to place in search of their favorite authors too. If a book has sequels, there would be no rest for some people until they have read every last one of them.  The country being what it is, a lot of people prefer to read things that will motivate them. Books by motivational writers are very popular and also, books on how to achieve success.

Here, I don’t have to stress myself to look for a book. I have a library card and if I want a book, I will simply go to the library’s website, log in to my account and search for it. When I find it, I will place a hold request on it, then go to the library to pick it up.

Even though a lot of people in Nigeria love to read, the libraries are a disgrace. It doesn’t take very much to set up a working, standard library. Not everyone can afford to buy new books and this shouldn’t be a deterrent to the people who want to read. It is the responsibility of the government to cater to the education and enlightenment of its citizens; and it is obvious that books should be high in the hierarchy of priorities of a responsible government. Anyone wondering if Nigeria has reading culture only needs to go to such places as Ikeja bus stop, Ojuelegba, Pen Cinema, Agege and other places to see the brisk business that booksellers are doing. At Yaba, there is a section reserved just for them and the volume of books they move in any given day will attest to the fact that people are buying and reading a lot of books.  All kinds of books: on management, theatre and drama, fiction, poetry, cooking, computer and even different magazines. There is also brisk business in the sale of children’s books. Who knows, those children will grow up to become the next Chinua Achebe or the next New York Times bestselling author.

This love for books extends to other states in Nigeria; however, they are often not as lucky as their brethren in Lagos to have access to such a wealth of books. Where they are available, the selection is usually very limited and the price too high for ordinary folks. In order to foster the reading culture, each state government should make the building of good libraries a priority. And they should keep them relevant by constantly updating the books. Just for the heck of it, I typed in Chinua Achebe’s name and placed a hold on his masterpiece, Things Fall Apart.  I’ll pick it up tomorrow and read it again, just to enjoy the buzz that comes from reading a really good book.