USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: READING: THE YOUTH DISCONNECT

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-----Original Message-----
From: maggie anaeto <maganaeto@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2014 17:09:54
To: <ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>
Subject: READING: THE YOUTH DISCONNECT

READING: THE YOUTH DISCONNECT

Ayo Olukotun

"The hallmark of a person who is
widely read is many ideas and
wise remarks" – Karanga Kariuki

Politics and the rhetoric of politicians can be immensely absorbing and alluring. After all they are trained to inundate us with promises; several unachievable, many to get our attention. The truth of the matter however is that very often it is the basic things that hardly feature in campaign rhetoric that count the most. For example, the diminishing number of well-trained laboratory scientists may prove to be more important for human survival in our national space than the sweet nothings that the politicians are regaling us with for the hour.
One fundamental area of national decay is the absent reading culture among our youths. Our youths are up to date on 'tech toys' and a growing number of them are active on the social media. What is perturbing however is the fact that not having cultivated a reading culture through the love of books or reading for pleasure they are often unable to take advantage of the glut of information that the new media provides. It is perhaps going too far to ask our educated youths, including graduates the last time they read a book from cover to cover. A more revealing question will be to ask the last time they read a newspaper.
There was this research carried out among youths in Ogun state some years ago. The simple question put to a sample of educated youths was: "Who do you think is more popular: Obafemi Martins or Obafemi Awolowo? Amazingly, a high percentage of the youths identified more with the star footballer than with the statesman. Very soon, we may find that a high percentage of educated young Nigerians have never heard of Herbert Macaulay or such founding founders as Aminu Kano, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa or Anthony Enahoro. It may also be worth our while to find out how many of our youths including the graduates of our many tertiary institutions have ever read the Nigerian Constitution, the driver's code or some basic reference material that would have assisted them in functioning as enlightened citizens.
To be sure, declining reading culture among the youths is a global phenomenon, more so in the context of competing amusements afforded by digital platforms. For example, a recent study of the reading habits of British youths found that only 32% of them read books for pleasure on a daily basis; whereas 36% of them were addicted to television while others spend their time on social networking, watching videos on YouTube as well as indulging themselves in mobile games and applications. Though disturbing, it must be comforting that despite the abundance of digital devices, close to one third of British youths still read books for pleasure on a daily basis. In other words, the global decline in reading culture among youths is qualified by national variations with Nigeria constituting an extreme case of functional illiteracy among the young. It is estimated that close to 30 million Nigerians completed schooling including university education with poor
reading skills while the average Nigerian never read a book per year.
If we put all of these in context we must admit that this syndrome is also rampant among the adult population. This writer argued in 'What does President Jonathan Read?" (The Punch, December 21, 2012) that Nigerian politicians are not the greatest lovers of books nor of keeping the company of intellectuals. It was suggested that Jonathan who in 2011 launched a 'Bring Back the Book' campaign can revitalise the comatose national reading culture by making public his reading list in the manner of American presidents. However, that is yet to happen. When we look at the leaders of other political parties, we do not see much encouragement even at the rhetorical level for rekindling the reading habits of young Nigerians. Many of our legislators make laws for us with huge knowledge gaps accruing from a lack of reading culture.
In other words, our political elite have done precious little to either develop a reading culture on their own or interest young Nigerians in one. Needless to add that the poverty of national political debate is traceable to the fact that the average Nigerian politician is alarmingly deficient on several fundamental concepts of national and global life. This deficiency has been transferred to the youths with a vengeance and the youths in turn have turned it into a virtual disconnect from the world of books and reading for pleasure.
We cannot at this point begin to compute the ramifications of this syndrome but if we take one telling example, namely religion, it is easy to see the connection between the growth of heresies and extremist movements and the absence of a reading culture. Christianity without Christ or Islam without Mohammed is founded on a relegation of reading the Holy Books. One of my former students did a study once on the Maitasine movement in Northern Nigeria which is the precursor of the current rampaging Boko Haram. One of the things he found out is that many of the young fundamentalists who constituted the sect had very spotty, almost non-existent acquaintance with the Koran. I have little doubt that many of the recruits to Boko Haram if one were to properly research it may know very little of Islamic doctrine. Similarly, the upsurge of heretical Christianity and of increasing scandals in the priesthood may not be unconnected to ignorance of what the
bible actually teaches.
Other fallouts of the anaemic reading culture of our youths include the prevalence of anti-social behaviour, inability to be part of the civic dialogue or even to reason logically as well as a restricted world view. To be sure, there is a connection between the reading culture and the catastrophic decline of education especially at basic levels. Reading itself as opposed to texting or chatting, presupposes a backdrop of information which enables one to comprehend increasingly complex material. Not having learnt to read except for purposes of examination many of our youths consider it punishing to grapple with any reading material including newspapers for which they do not see immediate use. A related point is the overwhelming decline in the use of the English language as spoken or written. This fact is underlined by the soaring rates of failure in recent years in the Senior School Certificate Examination in English language and mathematics.
What then is to be done? An agenda to resuscitate the reading culture of our youths must take on board such matters as the quality of primary and secondary education, the bringing back of the abandoned Higher School Certificate as well as civic campaigns designed to inculcate the profits and benefits of healthy reading habits. Apart from these, we must revive our disappearing libraries which were once a delightful feature of our towns and cities as well as stimulate through incentives habits of reading among the youths.
Finally, if President Jonathan seeks to revive the 'Bring Back the Book' campaign he should this time around, employ role modelling techniques by making public his reading list.

Prof Olukotun is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurial Studies at Lead City University, Ibadan. ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com 07055841236





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