Librarians call for stakeholder collaboration for revival of reading culture

The National Chairman of the Nigeria Library Association (NLA), Mr. Dominic Omokaro, has called on stakeholders to liaise with the association to revive and promote the culture of reading in the country.

Omokaro, who has observed that people are turning away from reading, said so at the association's 61st National Conference and Annual General Meeting in Akure, Ondo State.

He called for urgent action in this regard from the private and public sectors as well as higher education institutions in the country.

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According to him, a vibrant reading culture is essential to the development of each individual and of society as a whole.

The association also lamented that the culture of reading and using the library had been abandoned, but expressed its willingness to partner with governments and other stakeholders to bring back the culture for the development of the country.

Omokaro, who revealed that the association has done everything possible to encourage reading, said: "The day you stop reading, you start to die. A nation that does not read is a nation that is put into reverse."

The library remains the people's university and we want to encourage people to keep reading. We will also do everything in our power to contact the government and development agencies. For a nation to be actively involved in reading, the government must be fully involved,” he added.

Speaking on the conference theme, “Promoting Library Collaboration in a Changing World,” the NLA President said the conference would allow members and stakeholders to think about ways to reinvigorate the culture of reading.

He added that apart from this, the annual event that brought together members of the association would also create an avenue to discuss issues that would result in the growth of the profession in Nigeria and Africa in general.

Declaring the conference open, Acting Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa said that “without libraries, a nation would have no history and the future of such a nation is in danger".

noted that whatever the cost of building libraries, it could not be compared to the consequences of a nation's ignorance.

“We have a state-owned library which is duly funded and operated by the state government, in addition to the existence of libraries in many of our educational institutions,” he said. he declared.