I had pondered over the subject of this piece as to what could be the most resounding title to adorn it for a little more than six hours yesterdayand at the end of that mental hurdle that took a great part of my Sunday both physically and otherwise, I arrived at that which now crowns it and the reason for that may not be unconnected with the effect and threat the subject of the piece posses to our emerging society literally, academically and otherwise. For some uncanny reasons, it is in the habit of the current breed of Nigerians to do “violence “to anything that lacks the prospect of terminating into immediate financial returns. There is a huge neglect to things or areas of human endeavor that cannot put food on ones table inthe shortest time possible therefore any endeavor that unfortunately falls within this list is disregarded. It is immediately forgotten and hands being put into some other supposedly promising endeavor(s) with greater prospect of commercial returns in the shortest time and every other thing that accompanies it. Unfortunately enough, the art of reading voraciously and writing happens to be at the tail-end in the schedule of an average Nigerian depicted above and nobody gives any damn about that – welcome to Nigeria. I will in this piece of writing make obscure the dangers this drain in thereading culture pose on the present and the future generation, in between that, the observable reasons for this trend once alien in the character of the earlier Nigerians despite having little or no literary andreference materials at their disposal will be analyze, suggest possible solutions to curb this socio-cultural malaise enveloping us gradually and the duties of each and every one of us who are victims of this socio-cultural violence will be looked at. Of course, too many a reader may want to ask what the Reading Culture is. The phrase “reading culture” on the face of it, is a combination of two distinctive words entangled in the phrase viz: Reading and Culture. As for the latter,sociologists will have us understand that it is the way of life of a particulargroup of people, race or origin and for the former, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines, “ as the act of LOOKING at written words and UNDERSTANDING what they mean” (Emphasis mine). A reading together of both words, finds one arriving at a plethora of definitions that hovers around a sortof a knack or passion for going through literary materials or written words in a bid to gather additional knowledge and not necessarily reading to pass examinations although which cannot be taken out of its scope prima Facie. Ironically, although unknown to many of us, this reading culture, this desire to read literary materials, this crush if you like, for things written on paper or via the electronic media has become some herculean task which must be avoided at all cost and the society has helped to promote this ugly trend albeit not expressly but by the direct implication of the actions of government, the family and the organized private sector involved in driving a nation to its estimated height and this is where the HOW comes in, but I must say a little more before that. A popular axiom has it that, “if you want to hide something from an African man, put it in a book”. This innuendo of a statement I make boldto say is not only derogatory to the entire African population but also a ridicule of everything the continent stands for at least in the estimation of “rightly” thinking members of the public but by our collective actions, we have stopped it from being so and have helped the Sayers to attain a status reminiscent of a prophet and I hope I am not expected to explain how and why. The fact has a way of speaking louder than words little wonder the lawyers will say in their jargonic tantrums, “res ipsa loquitur’ to the effect that- The ThingSpeaks for Itself. What am I trying to establish here? One way or another, we have all struggled to justify the position of that axiom. It is collectively encouraged in Nigeria by the combined collaboration of both government and the citizenry. The habit of reading is fastly nearing a taboo or “haram” as the Islamic clerics will have us understand. It is no longer considered fashionable or a prestigious activity among a vast majority of Nigerians. The love for book and the once known pride for reading is lost and left in the murky waters of the past. what pity! The incentive for reading and writing which stems from most reading habit is not created in anyway. The government doesn’t seem to care but before blaming the government, the family has done more and we are no better for it. Theresult is devastating; it has led to a growing brain drain, massive failure in examinations, promotion of examination malpractice and puts usbehind in the comity of nations as anilliterate nation.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 06:04:34 +0000
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