A university teacher, Prof. Niyi Osundare, has said the ‘Bring Back Book’ initiative of President Goodluck Jonathan can only succeed if the Federal Government is ready to bring back qualitative politics, restore value system and improve the economy, education sector and power supply to the country.
“Neither will a hungry man have stomach for book nor a homeless man a shelf for book,” he said.
Osundare said this in a keynote address, ‘Homage to the book’ which he delivered at the Authors’ Forum of the University Press Plc in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Wednesday.
The university teacher said it was only when the Federal Government fixed the problem in the power sector that Nigerians could have stable electricity to read books.
He added that Nigeria deserved more than leaders “whose literacy is limited to signing of fat cheques and reading of speeches prepared for them.”
Osundare observed that no country that was genuinely interested in development would allow book to take the backstage only to later roll out programmes to bring it back.
“When you say ‘Bring Back Book campaign,’ we need to ask ourselves whether the book left initially on its own or whether he was chased out or whether it was burnt,” he said.
The author observed that beyond the media hype accorded the campaign, what he called the book hunger that was ravaging the country had further degenerated to book starvation.
He submitted that tyranny thrived in an atmosphere of ignorance and silence, saying that tyrants rule by falsehood while the book insists on the truth.
Osundare said it was time to put an end to a situation where “bookless universities turn out bookless graduates for the service of a bookless society.”
Another author, Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike, made a case for public reading, saying it was an avenue for authors to make more money and for publishers to market their books.
The chairman of the event, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, observed that no nation could make any meaningful progress without a healthy reading culture.
While saying that reading should be encouraged, the author also stressed the need for books to be made available at affordable prices.
Earlier, the Chairman of UP Plc, Dr. Lekan Are, said the idea behind the forum was to bring authors together and rub minds on issues concerning them and publishing generally.
Are said the firm held authors in high esteem because “without authors, no UP Plc. If they don’t write, we shall have nothing to publish.”
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Osundare faults Jonathan’s ‘bring back book’ project