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| Members of Crown Troupe in performance during the festival |
BY DAVID IBEMERE
THE GUARDIAN on SUNDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2010
NIGERIAN leaders are not among the best in the efforts to truly educate the country’s young ones. Even when they say so openly, fact is, they mostly do otherwise with policies and performances that beggar the ideal. But Speaker, Federal House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, came downtown Saturday last week to actually read to children at the 12th Lagos Books and Arts Festival (LABAF 2010) that ended on Sunday.
Bankole used the occasion to call on youths in the country to imbibe the habit of reading voraciously, saying that this would lead to national development.
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| Speaker Bankole with Children during the festival |
Addressing children and youth at the Green Festival segment of the LABAF, organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) entitled Literacy and Notion Of Freedom, Bankole said, “literacy is an essential component of national development; since the youths are the leaders of tomorrow, the need for them to develop and feel affection for reading cannot be over-emphasised”.
Bankole stressed that youths should make efforts to join book clubs through which they can exchange cutting-edge ideas and innovation, which could only be garnered through reading, insisting that such collaborations are crucial to national development.
The Speaker also took parents to task on the need to assist their wards to engage on crucial foundation of reading. He told parents, “Although the youths must read, parents on their part should start encouraging their children to read. Instead of buying toys and games, buy books, and also restrict what your child watches on television because the success of any child is the product of the parents’ upbringing”.
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| Cross section of children at the festival |
To the teachers, Bankole urged them to up their game as they had a major role to play by retooling and re-equipping themselves and also introducing the use of library and other reading techniques in schools in an effort to engage students better.
Bankole read a portion from a novel on the importance of environment to the delight of the children participants at the festival. He urged children to always do things that would not have negative effect on the environment.
According Secretary General of CORA, Toyin Akinosho, the yearly festival is aimed at reviving the reading culture among the youths and also to encourage them to find value and joy in writing.
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| Crown Troupe members dong 'Yoruba Ronu' in honour of the late Ogunde on Day 1 of the festival |
Landscaping Culture at the LABAF 10
Indeed , the visitation of the Speaker, Dimji Bankole, to the ground of the 12th Lagos Book and Art Festival, LABAF, on Saturday November 13, was an icing on the threee-day of feast of culture and ideas thatwarmed the heart of Lagos, the cultural captal of Nigeria last week. Dubbed the ‘biggest culture picnic in the country’, the Book Festival organised by teh committee for Relevant Art, CORA, had begun with a pre-festival event on Thursday November 11, via a Publishers’ Forum, which was designed to congregate the publishing community in the country with the aim of getting them to critically examine the fortune and fate of the beleagured industry; especially to find an answer to the widely perceived low reading culture among Nigerians.
About 12 major publishers and six-small scale outfits participated in the event that later dovetailed into a parley between the publishers and the book reading public or patrons. It was resolved at the event that Publishers must continue to explore new and more creative ways of getting their wares attractive to the public. The use of modern technology and social network programmes was well canvased.
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| Farafina Book stand at the festival |
On Friday, the Book Festival formally opened to a grand ceremony. Close to 1000 chidren gathered in the exhibition hall of the National Theatre, Iganmu to flag off the 6th edition of the yearly Green Festival segment of the LABAF. The children came from as many as 25 schools from different parts of Lagos.
About 20 Book and Art exhibitors had by 10am that day mounted their wares, waiting for the opening ceremony to commence., Though turn-out of the public was low due perhaps to the fact that it was a Friday, a working day; and the day after an aborted nationwide strike action by the Nigerian workers over demand for a new minimum wage.
However, while the children programme rolled into action with some established authors giving the children words of advice on the importance of reading to development of the individual’s mind and the human capital resources of the country, some young authors were also given the opportuunity to share their works with fellow childen and the adults present.
This was all part of thh Green Festival that was cordinated by Sola Alamutu, the founder of the Children and the Environment, CATE, which had patnered the CORA in organising the LABAF since the second edition of the festival in 2000.
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| Textile Designer, Funmi Seye-Aluko attend to patrons at the festival |
The adult segment flagged off at about 12 noon with a panel talking through the Festival Colloquium that was discussing ‘Literacy and Independence’. On the panel was the eminent citizen, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, whose book, Nigeria: Africa’s Failed Asset was one of the four books being discussed. Like the Moderator, former Managing Director of Daily Times and now CEO of Tanus Communications, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, had had to forgo the Presidential reception in his state to be the moderator of the Colloquium. Sir Ajayi, had decided to forgo a reception for the President Goodluck Jonathan in Abeokuta, Ogun State to be at the event. The panel also included Dr Tade Ipadeola; Dr Wunmi Raji; Dr Osita Agbu of NIIA; Dr Wale Okediran, author of Tenants in the House; as well as Eghosa Imasuen, author of To Saint Patrick . Other books handled in teh panle were Wole Soyinka’s You Must Set Forth At Dawn; and In-Dependence by Sarah Ladipo Manyika
The Festival Colloquium 11 held in the afternoon of same day moderated by Mr Kunle Ajibade, the Executive Director of The News; and it discussion on featured discussion on A Nation of Stories. On the panel were such renowned Literary activists as Odia Ofeimun; Adewale Maja-Pearce, whose book, In my Father’s Country was examined on the panel; Maxim Uzoatu and Wunmi Raji. Books discussed also included Kole Omotosho’s Just Before Dawn; and Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of Yellow Sun.
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| Result of the children creative workshop on display |
Result
The Festival continued on Saturday with more panels on the fate of writing in the country. A major highlight was the Writers Angst with four young writers reflecting on the pain and joy of writing. This was followed by a mini-symposium on the fate of Lagos in 2060; and then the Festival Party, which featured the landmark birthdays of some eminent Nigerian artistes. On Sunday was the Art stampede which reflected on the presence or absence of Folklore in contemporary writings. It was moderated by University of Lagos professor of English, and herself a writer, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo and had on the panel such writers as Lookman Sanusi who came in from London; Ropo Ewenla and Daggar Tolar. The session was later thrown out to the public during which the audience had ample time to participate in the discussion.
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| Secretary General of CORA making a presentation at the festival |
PUBLISHERS FORUM:
Sliding Reading Culture: Publishers’ Ache, A Nation’s Woe
By Fisayo Soyombo
The tens of book publishers, who converged on the Cowrie Hall of Ocean View, Victoria Island, had come from within and outside Lagos, some as far as Ibadan, Abeokuta, and the Federal Capital Territory. Represented publishing houses cut across the various business ties: large-scale, small-scale, middle-class and nascent outfits. Their organisational differences found expressions in their individual compositions.
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| Cross section of publishers at the Publishers' Forum |
The moderator, the Director of Pan African University (PAU), Professor Emevwo Biakolo, donned a spic-and-span butter colour suit, and had a distinctly slow speech production that betrayed his academic depth. There was the middle-aged man who had clad himself in a simple buba and sokoto, as if the event were an engagement ceremony. There was the young Cassava Republican, whose casual appearance belied her underlying intellect and passion for the book. The event coordinator hid his small frame in a simple shirt, which he neatly tucked into a pair of trousers. With a pair of spectacles over his expressionless face, he moved from one end of the hall to another, and spoke in a tone that was nigh on to hushed, even when he handled the microphone.
But in all these differences, they all had a common worry; they had come together, in the first place, to deliberate on a challenge that had united them: the poor reading culture among Nigerians, especially the youths. It is no longer news that reading no longer commands the attention it received from the public. Youths, the particularly guilty group, have too many activities, many of them fleeting, competing for their attention.
Perhaps one of the dark sides of a vibrant movie industry is its total grip on the mind of the entertainment-conscious youth, who can conveniently sit an entire day in front of a television screen, without being short of intriguing movies to watch. For children, time spent with computer games is the popular choice as major distraction; their addictive tendencies have never been in doubt. On and on, one could go on making a list of other less profitable activities that have since taken over the place of reading; but it was generally agreed at the forum, that the task was not how to displace other activities, but to strike a balance between them all, such that youths still mature to adults without losing the intellectual depth only obtainable through reading.
Some of the publishers recounted harrowing experiences of investing in literature only to be ignored by supposed beneficiaries. Bibi Bakare-Yusuf of Cassava Republic would not forget one of such moments. “We once organised a book reading that was attended by more than 1,000 people. We were happy when we saw that people were trooping in. But at the end of the day, we sold just over 30 books. Talking from the point of my background, I ask myself why I would go to a book reading if I do not intend to buy the book.”
From Evans, a representative narrated the efforts on Wale Okediran’s
Tenants of the House, published two years ago, and the inadequate reward it yielded. “The book was everywhere, as far as publicity was concerned. And of course, the book was written by a popular figure, and its focus was popular, too. With all we did, we have not yet sold 2,000 copies.”
The current trend portends serious consequences for a nation seeking to secure a place among the world’s top 20 economies by 2020. This, the publishers recognised. They were honest, though, to state its devastating effect on the publishing business.
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| The Lead Resource persons at the Forum, Patrice Modilim, |
ALTHOUGH the publishers’ forum focused on a number of topical issues in the business, it was effective marketing and distribution of books that had primacy. Somehow, almost every suggested solution seemed to have an accompanying bottleneck.
“The internet should be used to promote sale of books. Book publishing should begin to move in the direction of technology,” advised Patrice Modilim, a multidisciplinary
professional and resource person at the forum. Much as appreciable progress seemed possible from that end, a participant described “internet payment systems and banks as impediments to sales.” She also said that “technology is overrated,” considering that only about “four to five per cent of books are sold through the internet.”
Another participant expressed her concerns over the internet. “Online buying and selling has its problems. For example, you are about to sell a book for 50 per cent of usual cost. But when you tell customers that both parties should share the cost of transportation to the person’s location, they just back out.”
Another participant, Muhtar Bakare, publisher of Farafina Books, called for incorporation of book reading into Nigerian culture, but quickly added the impossibility of this measure, without government interest. “Book reading is yet to be incorporated into Nigerian culture. It is a task that we cannot run away from. If the same people who made me read Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka, Chukwuemeka Ike, and so on, are the ones now going into textbooks, we must be asking them the reasons for the change.
“Government must set good example for the country to follow. On September 11 2001, at the time when the second plane hit the World Trade Centre, President George Bush was in a primary school, teaching pupils. We cannot talk about reading culture outside government policy; it’s a fallacy. It is the responsibility of the government to structure the curriculum in such a way that reading is given primacy. When a governor, for example, reads to pupils, the message is that every parent should read to their children when they get home in the evening. Every responsible government in developed countries does it; so ours should be no exception.”
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| Publishers Meet The Public: Muyiwa Oduyoye, MD of Safer Books with Sandra Obiago of Communicating for Change and Dr Mbanefo |
Still, Patrice canvassed the possibility of imagining there was no government (on the premise of past failures), and working out independent solutions, saying: “Government has tried its best, but has not succeeded. We cannot leave issues in the hands of government.”
He urged publishers to study strategies employed by other industries. “Nollywood is an example that the publishing industry should follow. It has battled piracy by partnering the Copyrights Commission to finance the fight against piracy using the Commission’s legitimate framework. There’s a lot that government can do. But there’s a lot more that we can ourselves.”
THE idea of bookshops opening retail centres all over the country came up also, but it was almost immediately struck off. Participants believed that it was impossible, given the weak finance of publishing houses, to expect them to spend like telecom industry players, who have done just that. As someone later said, the idea had not worked in the past. “Our bookshop has close to 100 outlets. But since people were not buying, we were forced to prune the number down gradually. From experience, only 5 per cent of books are sold through bookshops. Others are through supermarkets and direct marketing.”
Then came a suggestion on reducing the price of books. “We will achieve so much if we reduce the cost of books and take our marketing to the people. I believe that is very possible to reduce cost significantly without compromising quality. In India, cars used to cost $15,000 to $20,000. Someone said he would sell cars for $1,000. Now, it is happening. Everyone is doing it in that country. There are Indian books that sell for as low as N100 in this country,” a participant suggested.
But in the eyes of another participant, applying the Indian example to the country would not be easy. Her words: “What is happening in India cannot be replicated in Nigeria without government policy. Their government gives them a lot of support, with such policies as tax holidays, and all that. We do not have that privilege here.”
In the words of another, government’s role cannot substitute the place of a reading public. “My friends in India have been telling me that, asides government support, their industry has been thriving because there were about 30 million middle-class citizens who were buying books and strengthening the market when they started.”
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| Septuagenarian publisher Oduyoye of Safer Books, makes a point at the Forum |
In the same vein, Emike Oyemade shared her experience of how social networking could be relevant to publishing. “I opened a Facebook page for a book. At some point, about 4,000 people had joined it. Each day, I picked a sentence from the book and put it on the page. People were dropping comments, and that generated some sort of awareness for the book.”
Her final observations captured the magnitude of the problem they all wanted to solve. “Books on relationships and sex are what keep us going. Actually, they are bestsellers — those books on getting the right husband or wife, or having good sex lives. Management and business books and others in that category are behind.”
As everyone at the forum agreed, there is yet no thriving economy in the world, which is driven by sex and romance. This, perhaps, effectively summaries all reasons the government must be just as bothered as the publishers.
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