The poor state of Nigerian education sector dominated discussions at the 2015 Nigerian International Book Fair (NIBF) held last week.
The week-long book fair had about 100 exhibitors displaying books, and other participants engaging in dialogues with major stakeholders in the book industry at the multipurpose hall of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
In conferences, children’s programmes and cultural displays, they uncovered what they referred to as how the education and book culture should be portrayed in Nigeria.
In his speech at the international conference of the fair with the theme: “African youth empowerment through book for sustainable national development”, the keynote speaker, Prof Godini Darah, urged Nigerians to clamour for a change in how education-related issues are handled.
The professor of Oral Literature and Cultural Studies from the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, condemned the way government and Nigerians manage matters relating to education and decried the low budget attributed to the sector every year, in comparison with other countries.
Darah said: “The government must take the initiative. How much do we spend in Nigeria on education? The amount we spend on education is too low. I have looked at figures from other countries and they spend a lot. South Africa spends about 21 per cent of their budget on education, in Egypt they spend about 18 per cent, Ghana spends about 25 per cent consistently. We spend only about eight per cent in our budget on education.”
He lamented that government and Nigerians have focused more on such areas as dance, music, sports among others, rather than important sector like education.
The professor urged all governments to practise free education policy, as he was a product of the Obafemi Awolowo free education scheme of 1965.
“The first empowerment we should do is to give free education to everybody. We have done it before. How would I be here now, if not for that scheme? You would not know those who are intelligent in your country until you give everybody equal opportunity,” he said.
Prof Darah encouraged government to invest in gathering, recycling and translation of knowledge through books, to boost the publishing industry and increase the nation’s per capita income.
He also recommended that a Bank of Books be created to fund book publishing.
“It is those you train that will invent. Government must put a certain amount aside for authors, publishers and researchers so that they do not have to scratch their heads for funds to publish knowledge. There should be a Bank of Books,” he said.
Also speaking, chairman of the occasion and Acting Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Prof Ismail Junaidu, decried Nigerians’ bad attitude to reading.
“It is not only illiterates that do not care about books; even professors make the same mistake. You see a Nigerian asking the wrong questions, because he is too lazy to read the signs,” he said:
Junaidu attributed this habit to most Nigerians not having been brought up to read books.
To address this problem, he said the NERDC has infused: “conspicuous issues on various reading skills into the schools’ curriculum, so that we can catch our children young to develop the culture of reading, because if you do not have that culture, books would be irrelevant.”
Condemning strikes by educational institutions, Junaidu said the effect on the society is usually felt by the future generation.
“We should all be concerned when we see teachers, lecturers and academics on strike. The effect would reflect on the society as late as 20 or 30 years and it is our children that would be affected by our mistakes of today,” he said.
Managing Director of Books and Prints Limited, Yaba, Lagos State, Mrs Oluronke Orimalade encouraged government to include bookshops and book sellers in the making of education and book-related policies to help the industry grow.
She said: “When you kill bookshops, you are killing the reading culture. You must encourage bookshops to grow and include them in education policy-making processes.”
