JOS – The Plateau State Government has commended the efforts of the Rhoder Children Centre International, the organisers of the first Jos Book Fair.
Mrs Sarah Yusuf, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, gave the commendation while speaking as Guest of Honour at the two-day fair held at the National Museum on Friday in Jos.
Yusuf described the efforts of NGO as laudable and worthwhile.
“We all know that the importance of reading can’t be over emphasised, so this is a feat that need be encouraged and emulated by all and sundry so as to build a better future for our children, ” she said.
Represented by one of the directors in the ministry, Mrs Bilkisu Abubakar, the commissioner pledged government’s cooperation and support and called on the Plateau citizens to develop the culture of reading for the transformation of the society.
Earlier in his welcome address, Prof Ezekiel Best, Chairman of the Fair, decried the near absence of reading culture in the Nigerian society and called for a rethink and total change.
Best, who is the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jos, said: “we must have a change of heart towards reading if at all we want to take the nation to greater heights .”
Prof. Timothy Oyetunde of Faculty of Education, University of Jos, said: “we must catch the children young with the culture of reading if we want to build their future”.
According to him, unless parents, guardians and teachers, development the habit of reading and teaching with passion, there is no way reading culture can be inculcated in children.
Mrs Milcher Pwajok, the Project Coordinator, said that the idea of the fair came as a result o f her concern for children about the bad reading culture that had engulfed the Nigerian society.
“I felt something drastic must done to change that non-reading atmosphere by organising this fair to tell the public that we need to change the tide for the good of our children and the nation, “ she said. (NAN)
