Stakeholders have said the book industry in the country is currently suffocating and in dire need of a saviour.
They spoke, yesterday, during the opening of the 22nd Nigeria International Book Fair, holding in Lagos.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who was Special Guest of Honour at the Fair, said efforts should be made to protect the book industry in Nigeria.
Adamu, who was represented by Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, said already, the National Book Policy had been approved, “but awaiting legislative action.”
He, therefore, urged stakeholders to ensure that no book gets into schools without assessment. He also implored those in book ecosystem to join hands together to ensure that the future of children is protected, especially from the books he described as corrupt, with no moral content.
Chairman of Nigerian Book Fair Trust, Dare Oluwatuyi, called for a favourable government policy for books to thrive.
He said the major goal of the book fair trust is to use NIBF “as a special purpose vehicle to encourage and improve the reading culture in our country.”
Oluwatuyi said there is an ongoing collaboration with relevant government agencies, including Universal Basic Education Commission, Tertiary Education Trust Fund and others to save the industry.
He said the collaboration is to ensure that literature and other reading materials are provided at affordable cost and easily accessible.
“We are working with schools, the network of books’ clubs and reading promoters in Nigeria and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) book clubs in Africa to continue to arouse the interest of children and youths in reading and education generally,” he said.
The book fair continues today with Tertiary Education Summit on: “Fresh Ideas for Overhauling Nigeria’s Tertiary Education Complex.”
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