Foundation reaffirms commitment to reading habit among children

Decries absence of bookshops in Nigeria
Ignite Africa Leadership Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, committed to reawakening reading habit among Nigerians particularly the young ones, has expressed willingness to help improve standard in the country’s education sector.

Founder of the organisation, Kolawole Oyeyemi, who spoke during the formal opening of a multifunctional library facility of the foundation’s office at Oregun, Lagos, cautioned that with the pace at which the country’s population is growing, “we may be doomed if we do not have large number of literate citizens”.

Stressing that the effect of ignorance on a society is usually unfavourable, Oyeyemi maintained that an avid reader would grow to become a better individual in all spheres of life.

He said, “The project of Ignite Africa is one sure way of improving and enhancing learning for children in our communities. When I was growing up, I had dreams of a great future. Those dreams could have died unrealised, but for the opportunities I had through good people who introduced me to books, made me thirst for knowledge, which provided the platform for me to fly.

“Not too many of my fellows had this opportunity. I am aware that there are children and young adults in our communities with aspirations. The truth is that many of these people are not sure of realising their dreams except they are exposed to books. The reason we are not relenting in planting the book seed in various communities with our partners”.

The Project Director of the foundation, Winnie Aduayi who decried dearth of bookshops and absence of local contents in the few existing ones said, “90 per cent of our books come from the United States. We discovered that bookshops do not thrive in this country, even books authored by Nigerians could hardly be found in the few bookshops around. And where you manage to see it, they are extremely expensive. So it is cheaper to import than to buy from here”.

She said the facility, which comprises of a library section, executive library, reading lounge for professionals and a resource centre, is open from 8.30am to 5pm from Monday to Friday and 10am to 4.30 pm on Saturdays.