Why reading is imperative for national development, by Tunji Olaopa

Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that the development of a nation is tied to the importance its leaders and citizens attach to a culture of reading.

He said this during a courtesy call on him by Chairman of the Governing Council, Nigerian Library Association, Dominic Omokaro. Olaopa, who identified himself as a voracious reader, said he has “one of the biggest personal libraries. In other words, I am an incurable book collector, reader, and writer.”
He said that he joined the Federal Civil Service as a Speech Writer and Chief Policy Analyst to the past military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

“Besides, I have written 16 major books (some out of print), over 60 monographs, and hundreds of Op-Eds.

“I am driven as a scholar, by the strong conviction that writers, scholars, intellectuals, and authors will die, but no one and no force can abolish memory and printed scripts,” he said.

Olaopa, while acknowledging the increasing ubiquity of the mass media, social media and the Internet, however, said that the issue of studying and book reading should regain its prime place in public policy with focus on the systemic constraints and challenges being faced in that sector. He lamented the challenges writers and publishers face against the background of the parlous economy.

“As an author, I can tell that it is becoming practically impossible to publish in Nigeria today. Where you manage to publish, recovering the cost of printing is a struggle, how much more expecting royalty payment by publishers, who themselves are barely surviving in what has become such a disenabling business climate.

“No matter the neglect of book policy and lifelong learning, published books, journals, libraries, readers, writers, translators, and publishers will always remain veritable indices and fundamental drivers of the growth of the economy and the transitions that will ignite national structural transformation,” he said.

Omokaro said the visit was to achieve three purposes. He said that they visited to congratulate Olaopa on his appointment, seek waiver for librarians to be given employment in the civil service, as well as seek collaboration with the civil service.