One of the biggest problems of the Federal Government is getting Nigerians to return to the book culture, and as a result of this, the Bring Back the Book initiative was launched by President Goodluck Jonathan, but Omoteniola Raliat Otun, a young author and 300-level student of Physiology at the University of Ibadan, explains to Adewale Oshodi that

parents, not government, can help boost the reading culture in the country.

Omoteniola Raliat Otun, a 300-level student of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan, recently released her first book, Agony of an African Child and she is just so excited about this. “I have read other writers’ books, and now people will read my book as well”, she said joyfully.

Despite being a Physiology student, her love for literature knows no bound. The journey into becoming an author did not start in a day for Omoteniola; she is an avid reader, and the kudos goes to her parents, who she said bought her lots of books while she was young. This is, however, not unexpected for someone whose father is a lecturer at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, while her mother is a mathematics teacher in a secondary school. They both know the value of reading, and they inculcated this in their children.

And by the time Omoteniola was in Junior Secondary School (JSS) 3, she had started narrating stories she had read from her numerous books to her friends at The International School, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, “and later, I started writing my own short stories and narrating them to my friends as well”, the young author said.

“By the time I was preparing for my final year examinations in secondary school, my parents were even bothered that I was dedicating more hours to writing, instead of studying for my examination, but when I did well in my examinations, they started taking notice of my writing, and it was even my mother who got me a publisher”, the Physiology student said.

Although Omoteniola is proud to see her first book in print, she is ready with the manuscript of the second, and “the only thing left for me is to tidy up the manuscript; edit it well, and then send it out to the publisher.”

Now, apart from reading, this young author hopes to become a medical doctor someday, and then go ahead to become a lecturer of medicine.

“I also love teaching, and that is why I want to become a lecturer, and it has nothing to do with the fact that my parents are teachers; so after my first degree in Physiology, I intend re-enroll for medicine and then go on to become a lecturer in medicine.”

But will this not in any way have an effect on her writing?, the author of Agony of an African Child says, “literature is part of me now; I want to be like Dr Wale Okediran, the former Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) president, who is a medical doctor, as well as an accomplished writer.”

“Infact, Dr Okediran is my role model; I also love Professor Chinua Achebe, and I have read Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and A Man of the People, over and over again.”

The fact that most Nigerians, especially the youth, have dumped the reading culture is no longer news, and this is even a problem for the government, which is already encouraging a return to the book culture through its various reading policies, but Omoteniola believes parents have a greater role to play in this.

“Parents must encourage their children to read, as reading broadens one’s horizon; parents should buy books for them, as my parents did for me, and when they catch the book bug, they can become whoever they want to become in life,” the young author said.