Most times when I post on here, I imagine some faceless person squeezing their face, and saying what is it with this girl and reading
Most times though, these individuals are not faceless since they had actually commented on my FB page and to my face.
I really am not surprised with the statement because according to the World Culture Score Index, Nigeria is one of the countries in the world with the lowest reading culture.
In fact, a study conducted in 2004 shows that the average Nigerian reads less than one book in a year.
That was in 2004, and this is 2019. You can do the Mathematics yourself.
I stated this observation at a presentation I gave at LASWA (Lagos State Water Ways) and there was an uproar by the staff.
They denied it vehemently. They felt the rating was a poor reflection of our reading habits.
And then I asked how many of them had actually read a book from the beginning to the end in the past year, and just 2 raised their hands. At least, in that regard they were honest.
We don’t read! Nigerians don’t read!Once University is done, the books are closed forever. 🚶
And then we start moaning about our employers lack of initiative or critical thinking skills, employees inability to grow their businesses in spite of the tough terrain that is Nigeria, students performing poorly at job interviews, poor parenting skills, life skills, leadership skills, customer service skills and so much more.
But I am grateful for employers that are interested in the reading habits of their employees, and take it a step further in bringing experts who would open the eyes of their employees to why reading is crucial and vital to their career and personal development.
I am grateful for employers who would ask us to come fit in a library into their work space.
I am grateful for employers who would ask that we come in to organize book clubs for their employers to ensure that the books in the library are read.
I am grateful to employees who were at first skeptical about all of these (and told me point blank that they were not interested), but who admitted after the presentation that they are all in.
Some came to me at the end of the presentation to recommend books for their personal use on some areas in their lives that they think need an intervention.
Presently, Staff have been put into groups of 3sBooks have been allocated by ballotand in a month’s time, all the staff would gather to review their books.
I am excited, I am really excited.
Would you like us to do this for your organisation?
- By:Taiwo Ilori
- 0 comment
Leave a Reply