THE READING CULTURE;WHERE DID WE GET IT WRONG?
BY OSUJI NOEL
Nigeria is a nation that has been blessed by an overwhelming number of great writers and literary champions down the years. From the Pele-Maradona like brilliance-induced duopoly over Nigerian king of pen between Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe of blessed memory,to the graceful elegance of Ben Okri and Elechi Amadi,and finally to modern touch bearers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Adaobi Tricia Nwabuani.
But who comes after them?
Only a tiny fraction of the latest generation seem to be gathering any dust whatsoever.A few flicker,sputter and fade away,while the vast majority seem to be too mediocre to even make the cut.Most appalling of all is that this malaise seems to be creeping into our educational literature and even the books used by some of our examination governing bodies[Yes,JAMB,I’m looking at you].Scholars don’t seem to have noticed,or worse,have noticed but haven’t shown any real concern.
So what exactly could have gone wrong?
The general consensus seems to be that the advent of social networking is solely responsible for this.I daresay that is incorrect.Sure,the rave with which facebook,whatsapp and the likes seems to be sweeping through our students and scholars may sem overwhelming,but the true problem lies within the mindset of the young ones and not just the fact that they’re being caught up by irrelevancies.
They’re being caught up by irrelevancies because they don’t care enough about the relevancies.Thus,when viewed from this perspective,it can be deduced that students have lost the value of a sound educational background such that they are simply not knowledgeable enough about the world around them to how it works.They either have forgotten,ignored or don’t know at all that the way towards being a successful writer is first of all having adequate information of your niche and mastering the elements of your field.All these can simply be called the acquisition of knowledge,and can only be gotten from reading about and careful observation of the local,national and international environment,after all,it is said that you can’t give what you lack.These start-ups can’t provide any meaningful content to their work because they’re not filled with it either.
Whose fault is it exactly?
This is where it gets dicey.Every stakeholder has played some role or the other in this problem.The government via the ministry of education have failed to come up with effective curricula designed to reintroduce students to the joy of reading.Teachers and lecturers are no longer believing of the saying that “A teacher’s reward is in heaven” and now seek their reward here on earth so vigorously that they care less about the quality of their teachings than the amount they get to pocket from time to time via examination malpractice.Parents no longer truly care about how well their children are performing in school.They do not take their time to examine them personally,rather depend on results which have been manipulated and certificates which have been barely deserved to serve as a metric and yardstick to measure their performances.Finally,students are naturally resistant to that they view as strenuous.This general laziness,coupled with disinterestedness from the government and teachers as well as indifference on the part of parents has resulted in the nation producing writers who are half baked and unfit to stand in the shadows of the aforementioned great authors.
Until we set all these right,we will remain in the literary doldrums we find ourselves in today.
