BOOKS play vital roles in the development of individual lives and nation states. However, there is a challenge in the level of attention being paid to books in the country in spite of their importance. Efforts by government to revamp the sector with projects such as Bring Back the Book and others should enjoy the support of corporate organisations, especially with a few individuals organising literary events to encourage reading in the country.He noted that if these efforts were pursued vigorously, they could correct the poor reading culture in the country. Also, the kinds of books being employed for this purpose count as effective measures to stimulate the interest of the public in reading.One individual that has thought deeply about the book scenario is the author of folkloric and children's books, Pastor Augustine Edokpolor. He has written three books - Shattered dream, Pearls of moral lesson and Wise ant and The Riches of Nature.Edokpolor said that these books were put together with a view to imparting knowledge on the nation's youth, whom he noted, are the leaders of tomorrow.He stated that the books are ways of giving back to society as the business of writing and publishing books was not yet a lucrative one in the country. He stated, 'It's not really easy to hit a fortune considering the high cost of printing materials. Personally, I am not publishing because of the monetary gain. Rather, I want to impact the right knowledge to the youth of this nation.'As a pastor, going by the bible perspective, I am for everybody: youth, adults, children, men and women. This is because they form the fulcrum for continuity of the nation. As an entity of human development, advancement and progress, it is just sacrifice; it is not lucrative at all.'In stating his challenges in the three years of being in the business of publishing, Edokpolor said, 'There have been some good texts in good English on ground before my entry. To be able to attain acceptability in the literature market, I have to do more of editing work.'Secondly, the cost of producing is very astronomical. Thirdly, printers, who are very dubious, do not always deliver work at scheduled time. This is depressing to publishers. The poor reading culture in our country is detrimental to publishing. The pain of having others feed on your sweat without permission, which is piracy, is a very serious challenge.'Majority of the people don't have time for reading. Our youths are not left out in this disheartening trend. Many of them don't read, nor study their books at all. They rather want ready-made success. This is why examination malpractice is very rampant in our country. This hydra-ill has destroyed the standard of education in our nation so much so that in many countries across the world, certificates are be subjected to serious scrutiny before being accepted.'It is going to take a collective effort to make a steady headway and breakthrough in reading: the federal and state governments must be involved by working out the machinery for this to be realised. This can be done through the ministries of education recommending valuable good texts for schools (primary and secondary). Some of these literature texts can be purchased in bulk by the government and distributed to all students in schools across the nation.'Teachers should be tasked with the onerous responsibility of encouraging and compelling students to read and study. The government should help examination bodies like WAEC and NECO to have a monitoring team of disciplined, experienced, morally upright people, who can go round schools all over the nation during examination so that candidates that get involved in examination malpractice are penalised.'The media, both print and electronic, can be channels of reaching and educating the people on the importance of reading to improve and develop self and for pleasure. This will create enlightenment. To achieve success in promoting reading culture, teachers in our schools, parents and clerics must lend their support. They can do this by practicing it themselves, teaching others to do so, encouraging and compelling their children, members and students to read'.Although a pastor and civil servant with a busy schedule, Edokpolor said that he still found time to write because, 'I have real passion for youths; writing forms an integral part of my medium of conveying my God-given message unto them.'He, however, added that the non-availability of sophisticated printing machines for quality work in the country took him abroad to print his books. He is optimistic that things would get better in the near future.He noted, 'Many publishers now print in China and India, which is a loss to the country's economy irrespective of the taxes being charged on books imported into the country'.
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