…Don blames it on Nigerians losing the core values of reading

The Executive Director of Reading Culture Advocacy Initiative (RCAI), a non–profit organization committed to the achievement of a total national consciousness of the values and benefits of reading, Dr O. C. Okoro, has lamented the gradual erosion of core values of reading and lifelong learning in Nigeria.

He spoke at separate programmes on Reading Culture Awareness Campaign organized for Porters Field Academy and Suzz Tenderly International Schools, both in the Gwagwalada Area Council of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

RCAI, among others, implements a School–Based Programme (SBP) where it conducts activities to improve reading, learning, and knowledge acquisition among students and teachers alike.

In his opening remarks at the events, Dr Okoro stated that the absence of reading culture has become an issue of global concern, and its promotion among the peoples of various countries of the world, including countries on the African continent.

He noted that in Nigeria, the absence of reading culture has persisted particularly among the youths and the general populace, warning that allowing this trend to continue unabated could lead to a high level of ignorance with dare consequences for human and societal development and progress.

He blamed the society for placing so much value on money-making than reading and knowledge acquisition which, he said, will, in the long run, benefit the society. He bemoaned the fact that the society has generally come to embrace the idea of “quick fixes” over hard work, adding that people prefer to cut corners in order to reach their goals in life rather than treading the difficult, tasking, and genuine path to success.

He added that this practice also reflects in the behaviour of youths who take to the easy way in everything, including reading, learning, and exams. He confessed being greatly troubled by the poor reading habits of Nigerian youths, adding that recent statistics indicate that over 30 million of them have graduated from colleges with poor reading attitudes and skills. He mentioned that indulging in exam malpractice and cheating are majorly attributed to students’ poor reading attitudes and skills.

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He said that the more time such students devote to reading/studying, the more successful they will be in their exams. This means that students who cheat in exams have not read or studied sufficiently as to prepare for them.

Dr. Okoro asserted that while reading and seeking for knowledge are tasking and demands discipline, many young people are not willing or ready to go through the rigours and as a result, they often resort to all forms of exam malpractices in order to succeed. He regretted that exam malpractice has taken a new dimension whereby parents themselves are the ones purchasing question papers for their wards and fixing them up in special examination centres (where the malpractices are conducted on a massive scale). He added that because of this, it is common to find many youths with brilliant results but without requisite knowledge.

Dr Okoro noted that as the cornerstone and fundamental ‘building block’ of learning, reading remains one of the best and fastest ways through which one can gain and increase knowledge in today’s modern and complex world. 

He added that an individual who wants to contribute meaningfully to societal development must not only read to become well-informed but also develop the capacity to translate such information or knowledge to purposeful and practical applications in solving real-life problems.

He worried that a situation in which a large number of Nigerians rarely read, either because they lack the skill or simply because they do not care enough to take time to concentrate poses serious developmental problems for the country.

He further lamented that despite efforts by many individuals and organizations to promote the culture of reading, the nation is yet to record success in terms of the number of active readers, warning that this is not good, as we are living in an era of globalization where the ability to read with understanding is much more important now than at any other time in human history.

He said that Reading Culture Advocacy Initiative (RCAI) adopts innovative behaviour change communication programmes to address inadequate reading interests and habits among youths, with the knowledge that young people are likely going to continue to hold on to negative societal stereotypes and views until they are exposed to programmes that encourage ideological shift.