Dr. Raphael James, researcher and CEO of Center for Research, Information Management and Media Development in Lagos, has a strong passion for reading. In this chat with SULIAT ABODUNRIN, he speaks on his love for reading, why he founded a private library and a photo museum in Idimu, a Lagos suburb.
Where did the twin ideas of the photo-museum and a library come from?
The idea for the library came when I noticed that youths who patronised the business centre I owned then, would come with someone else’s result maybe Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) or General Certificate of Examination result, and they would demand for a typist and a sheet of paper. They would use it to cover the person’s name, then write their name on that particular result and make photocopy. So, I started asking them, when you use somebody else’s result to look for a job or gain admission, how are you going to defend it? Then I realised that the problem we are having, especially in our educational system, is not about passing exam, it’s because we don’t read, then I decided to start a library, hoping that the library would give people an opportunity to get access to books.
How about the museum?
Nigerians do not document history. This is particularly depressing because for you to move forward you should know where you are coming from. I understand that in most schools in Nigeria today, the history of Nigeria has been removed from their curriculum which is very terrible. A good number of youths today do not know anything about the history of Nigeria. So in order to fill this gap, the idea of the museum came up.
How did you start?
For over six years now, I had been compiling some pictures. But along the line, I lost the pictures when my system crashed. But I didn’t give up, I lost more than three thousands pictures. I started all over again. We have over ten thousand pictures telling the story of Nigeria and I thought that it would do no good if I have the pictures in my computer, the world won’t see it, I wanted a place where I could exhibit them and that was how the idea of the museum came up. We got an apartment and it’s been capital-intensive, the first time I realized we had spent over 2 million naira, I got worried and I started asking myself, are you sure you are doing the right thing, I remember querying myself so much that I thought that I had wasted money, but the encouragement I get when people come around goes a long way to show that they appreciate what I am doing and that has kept me going. We are trying to set the record correct and we are trying to make the history of this country to be updated, if you visit the national library in Onikan, you would discover that the last set of pictures there are photographs of when Nigeria had only 12 states and we are talking about more than thirty years back so there’s no improvement. Recently, I made a tour and I visited about three other museums, I was at the National Museum in Benin, I saw the pictures there and I told that I have 99% of their pictures, at the National War Museum in Umuahia,
Is that concept from your working experience at the government house?
Not really, like I said, the whole idea or part of what I regard as training came from my first job, when I left the university, I worked with Newswatch Communications Limited, and I was employed in their Special Project department. In fact, they used to call us The Newswatch Dream team and part of our job in Newswatch was to provide research material, based on the ongoing project, the Newswatch Who is Who in Nigeria and occasionally, we did provide research materials for the editorial team I want to come in as a research consultant to document their past publications and they accepted so that was where the idea came from that if media houses are actually lacking these process of getting information and if I can start it, probably, I might survive on it.
Has there been any assistance in the past, either by the government or anybody?
The government has not assisted in anyway but individuals have. The Rotary International once donated about a hundred books to the library, they sent some representatives who came and checked around and they said they love what I was doing; the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs have also sent a representative to the library and they donated about a hundred books too, the National Library also sent some representatives all the way from Abuja but they have not responded up till today, as that is more than five years now. There was an elderly man that donated a set of encyclopedia to us, he was just passing by and he saw the library and he said that he could scarcely believe that in his lifetime, he would see a library in Ejigbo, so he donated a set of encyclopedia and took me to his house, he told me had two set of encyclopedia, but he would donate one set and he would watch if I don’t fold up in one year, he would donate the second set. Unfortunately, after the first six months of the donation, there was a fire incident in his house, and the other set of encyclopedia in his house got burnt, so we missed that one.
What is the link between psychology and media and where did the zeal come from?
During my youth service year, I wrote two published books and my HOD called me told me that I was going to be a good researcher and I didn’t like it then. He probably said that because I was doing a lot of research job even as a student that I didn’t even realize it, I know as an undergraduate, I was probably the only student that did three projects for my final year project, I did one in year one. I did some research work during my years in school that earned me recognition from the HOD and I discovered I had so much fun doing them.
So what are the challenges?
What I would call the major challenges, then and now is that we have a poor reading culture. I know people would expect me to talk about finance. Yes finance is there but it is the least of the problem, what I see as the challenge is that people don’t come to read because even the little I have been able to provide or put together, people do not come to read them, I remember for the first six months or so, hardly did I see anybody walk in the building to read and even when student started coming in, they came because they either wanted to write the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination or General Certificate of Examination. On the other hand, when workers came in, it was because they were preparing for professional exams like ICAN, and immediately after the exam, everybody will disappear, so the library is there, and we had books. We were buying newspapers on a daily basis. At a point I thought to myself that this is wastage, because it was affecting my family, since I didn’t have any external sponsor.
How can we revive reading culture?
I think the government should provide libraries. Some people want to read, but because they either don’t have access to a library or they don’t have enough books or cash to buy the books. So I have one ambition of establishing 774 libraries in all the local government across the nation. If I am made the Minister of Education, I will establish these libraries without using federal government money, I would not demand one naira from the government but I will establish those libraries. I have been in this business so I understand how it works; I know what it involves so I understand how to go about it.
So where did you get the photographs in the museum?
What we did before we started gathering the pictures was that we first tried to understand the history of Nigeria, we then did a historical analysis of those who had played prominent roles in Nigeria and then gathered their names and the year which they operated, after that we …. The search took us into different areas, we consulted books, we consulted old magazines as far back as the 80s and the 60s we consulted old newspapers. Occasionally, we go online to search for the ones we don’t have. We also make visits like my recent visit to the museum, the pictures I didn’t have, I had to plead with them for an exchange programme, I offer them 10 of my pictures that they don’t have, for one of their own.
Do you think both library and museum are serving their needs?
I am convinced that these landmarks will live after me and for the sake of posterity; I want to be rest assured that I have, in my own way contributed to the sustenance of an intellectual community.
