What Do Nigerians Read? Gauging The Reading Habits Of Today’s Youths

By Laolu Harolds & Vivian Umeh

Aja Nwachukwu, Education MinisterSomeone once said ‘A man cannot rise beyond what he reads’. While this may seem an extremist position to take regarding the benefits derivable from reading, it is nonetheless a strong fact that reading generally goes a long way in shaping a man’s world view, attitudes, beliefs, accomplishments and, in fact, his future.

Since the invention of the printing press in the 16th Century, reading has continued to be the single most important source of knowledge expansion. Books have served not only as a useful means of recording history, but also as a means of transferring information, entertainment, knowledge acquisition as well as mental and psychological therapy.

Today, with the amazing possibilities the Internet makes available, the message is even more poignant than ever before that reading somehow holds the key to almost everything. Whether through the several breathtaking breakthroughs in modern medicine, unprecedented technological advancement in science and technology or even in the discovery of new, better and easier ways of doing those same things mankind has done down the centuries, reading books has somehow been at the centre of it all.

For example, no one would deny the fact that the world today is producing more mega-billionaires and intellectual wiz kids at a faster rate than at any other time in history; yet, most people at the vanguard of these new super-rich and super-intelligent generations are those who have (by their own testimonies) discovered and are exploiting the field of gold hidden in books.

As Jimoh Ibrahim, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NICON Group, pointed out recently at a programme organised for the staff of the African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc in Ibadan: “The millionaires of yesterday traded in visible goods; today’s millionaires are trading in invisible goods, but tomorrow’s millionaires will be trading in ideas” – those ideas being a direct product of consistent and voracious reading habits.

But generally, do Nigerians read?
A lecturer in Ibadan, Mr. Daniel Deyemo, believes Nigerians don’t read at all.
“The reading culture is completely dead. There are so many distractions. Worse still, reading itself is no longer taught in schools. Many of the so-called teachers don’t know how to teach reading.

“Somebody once told me that if you want to hide something from a Nigerian, just put it inside a book; he’ll never open it. 61 per cent of Nigerians don’t read.”

Opinions differ on this, however. While a school of thought holds that Nigerians read anything and everything (especially with hordes of young people besieging newsstands every morning or spending hours at cyber cafes browsing the Internet), others – especially authors and book publishers – caution that we may need to take a closer look at what Nigerians read.

Really, is the presence of young people who daily gather around newspaper vendors to read headlines of major political and sports stories and thereafter engage in analyzing events and developments in the country to be taken as an indication of a healthy reading habit among Nigerians?

There is no doubt that some information does get transferred through this process; but to what extent can this form of reading compare with creating time to read complete fictional works of accomplished writers, biographies, history and theories of outstanding inventions, philosophical writings and so on? And what is the percentage of such young people who daily visit newspaper stands every morning to the entire population of educated Nigerians?

Mr. Seyi Sanni, a legal practitioner, confessed to Saturday Tribune that devoting such time to general reading is a luxury he doesn’t have, as he is always busy with court cases. He, however, stated that he buys newspapers regularly.

While his view may not be taken as representative of that class of people generally referred to as ‘learned’, he will definitely not be alone in that position. Distractions of every form have robbed most Nigerians the opportunity of taking advantage of this valuable habit.

No less a person than the late literary icon, Cyprian Ekwensi, a few years ago, identified this as a potent factor militating against a vibrant reading culture among Nigerians.

Speaking at a forum organised by a non-governmental organisation to promote reading culture among some secondary schools in Lagos, Ekwensi had noted that generally, the low economic power would not allow majority of Nigerians buy books. But more than that, he stressed, even those few who had the economic muscle to buy books lacked the peace of mind to read for pleasure.

Responding to a question, he had quipped: “How can you read when you don’t know if the gunshot you just heard was meant for you or the person next to you?” When people generally regarded as ‘achievers’ in the society today tell their stories of how they were compelled to read a novel each per week in their school days (on which their assessments were based), such stories sound like tales by moonlight to today’s youths and school children.

The fact is, today, even most teachers don’t read one novel a month, not to mention mentoring children along that line. And you cannot give what you don’t have. Even most parents have failed in this task; and these (parents and teachers) are the people who are directly in the position to ‘plant, nurture and groom’ the habit in children. Is it a surprise then that these ‘unschooled’ children grow up to become adults who due to their intellectual vacuity and shallow world view devote time for everything else except reading?

If a survey conducted by Saturday Tribune should be used to assess the reading habit among the youths of today, then it would appear that the situation has really gone down the slope. From their responses, it was obvious that many of the respondents who claimed to read fairly regularly only made the claims just to appear intelligent, as many of them could not even remember the titles of the most recent works they claimed to have read – not to mention discussing them!

Even taken at face value, only one in about 10 people spoken to visits a library to read for pleasure, once in a while, while about three out of five young men claimed they frequently visit newsstands to ‘read newspapers’ (actually, what these ones do – as was earlier noted – is read headlines and few paragraphs of major political and sports news, since majority of them for economic reasons cannot afford to buy the papers off the stands).

It can also be deduced that few people among this class visit bookstores or roadside book vendors to buy books just for the sake of expanding knowledge. According to Saturday Tribune findings, women (especially undergraduates and young corporate executives) are more visible in this group. Such young women, however, buy mostly religious literature, motivational books and romance novels.

Mrs. Esther Amoo at Tolulope Bookshop, Oke Bola, Ibadan told Saturday Tribune that the class of books most frequently asked for were educational textbooks. These understandably were bought by young people who by the virtue of their school courses were compelled to purchase them.

At the Odusote Bookstores, the attendant who agreed to respond to Saturday Tribune’s enquiries said apart from educational books, a few young men frequented the bookstore to ask for investment books. At some bookstores visited, especially in Lagos, Saturday Tribune was told that there were times when some individuals would just walk in and make huge book purchases sometimes running into thousands of naira and cart them away in their cars, but such situations were usually few and far in-between; and, usually, it was noted, such individuals were noticeably in the high income bracket.

Interestingly, other classes of ‘books’ frequently sought after, according to some roadside book sellers in Lagos, are pornographic materials, gossip and fashion magazines. The patronage of these materials, according to findings, ironically, cuts across all classes of people – youths and adults of both sexes, irrespective of their social status.

But what is responsible for Nigerians’ unhealthy reading habits? It is no longer news that a great majority of Nigerians, due to endemic corruption among the country’s ruling class, live on less than $1 dollar per day. This general impoverishment constantly takes ever-soaring prices of books beyond the reach of the ‘ordinary people’. This, without doubt, is the single most significant factor. Beyond this obvious economic reason, however, is the general peace of mind which seems to forever elude the average Nigerian owing to insecurity.

And perhaps lastly, and by no means the least factor, is the fact that most of the people who should lay the foundation for such reading culture have not themselves imbibed it – teachers and parents. It’s all about living by example. Researches have shown that the best readers are those students who see their parents reading. You can talk about the virtues of reading for ever, but if you do not read yourself, your actions will communicate more to your children about how much you value reading. This goes for teachers as well.

The benefits of healthy reading habits can never be over-emphasised. According to a researcher and career teacher, Andrea Vinley Jewell, avid readers read better, write better and concentrate better. They are quicker to see subtleties. They have easier time processing new information and they have a better chance for a successful, fulfilling adult life.

He also noted that such people are able to understand how other people think and feel, as well as exhibit the ability to sift information and to understand how unrelated facts fit into a whole. Is it strange then that, without exception, all successful people – people at the very top of their game – are voracious readers? Watch how and what you read; it just might determine how far you go in life.