Education has been described as the bedrock for the growth and socioeconomic advancement of any nation in the world.
This realization is why the National Librarian and Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria (NLN), Professor Chinwe Veronica Anunobi, has dedicated herself to the educational development of Nigeria by investing in the promotion of reading culture, especially among young people, the pillars of the nation.
Since assuming office, Prof. Anunobi has displayed sterling leadership qualities discharging her duties and has initiated programs to improve reading and literacy rates in Nigeria.
Worried by the over 20 million illiterates in Nigeria, the National Library under Prof. Anunobi’s stewardship, has donated over 1,800 volumes of reading materials to over fifteen primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria within the first half of 2023.
While speaking at the flag-off ceremony of the 2023 Annual Readership Promotion Campaign, Prof. Anunobi said Nigeria must put reading at the top of her priority list in the quest to attain all-inclusive sustainable development.
She stated that for Nigeria to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a concerted effort must be made by all stakeholders to reduce the rate of illiteracy in the country.
Prof. Anunobi said the Annual Readership Promotion Campaign organized by the National Library impacted over 4,000 people comprising secondary school students, male and female adults and 102 secondary schools in 2022.
In a bid to ensure that the National Library is digitized to provide quick access to educational resources from anywhere in the world, Prof. Anunobi, in September 2022, announced the official digitization of the National Library of Nigeria, a landmark achievement described by experts as the game changer in Nigeria’s quest to encourage reading culture, especially among the youths.
The Prof. Anunobi-led National Library also developed the National Repository of Nigeria (NRN) that will house in electronic form, all of Nigeria’s heritage that has been deposited from inception to date by authors, printers or publishers, in compliance with the legal deposit law. The NRN will be accessible to everyone regardless of status, qualification, or location.
According to the National Librarian, access to the materials will be in three forms, namely full access, partial access and read-only, a move designed to enable creators of intellectual properties to have a return on investments.
Since assuming office in 2021, Professor Anunobi, through her eight-point agenda of Digitization and Development of the National Repository of Nigeria (NRN); Virtual Library Services Development; Automation of Library Operations and Services; Enhancing the Branch Libraries Environment; Providing Library Services to the Hard to Reach; Enhance Literacy Sensitization and Encourage Documentation of Family Heritage in Indigenous Languages; Expansion and Strengthening of the National Library Archives and Collaborating with Schools to Ensure Establishment and Management of Libraries for the Promotion of Reading has revolutionized the National Library, making it a reference point for other nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As she continues to steer the affairs of the National Library, Prof. Anunobi, an educationist per excellence, is on the right path in her quest to promote reading culture and reduce illiteracy in Africa’s most populous nation.
Itazi Joseph wrote in from Abuja.
