Lagos — Celebrities can be better, if they read. CHINYERE OKOYE spoke to Chinyelu Anyiam-Osigwe, a celebrity who made buying and reading of books a hobby. She loves reading even while she was with the Nigerian television Authority. She used to exchange novels with colleagues in the office thereby increasing her passion for reading, which started from childhood

"Reading helps to sharpen our vision. A beautiful book they say is an inspiration, a lifelong friend and something very special. Reading involves sharing in the world of others. A Nigerian that aspires to be a leader must be a reader." These are the words of Mrs. Chinyelu Anyiam~Osigwe, a former television personality.

"A society dies the moment the will to survive is missing. A society as a living entity has its own life that is ought to be fed in order to survive. Education plays a significant role in the continued survival of the organic structure of any society. The function of formal education in the development of Africa cannot be overemphasised. It is a known fact that Nigeria produces a high level of formally educated minds in the continent of Africa.

"There is no doubt that Nigeria as a nation is behind in imbibing a reading culture with which no nation in the 21st century could make a profound headway to socio-economic, political and techno-scientific advancement. The attitude surrounding the Nigerian formal education revolves around paper qualification. This is a very myopic way of looking as the entirety of what education stands for," Anyiam~Osigwe said.

She said her worry is that "if we do not get our children to read, they are losing a lot, because there is so much to get from books that you can't get from other sources. It is not just to improve your vocabulary, it improves even your creative writing ability. You explore new lands. It keeps you out of trouble.

Reading for Development Initiative is the initiative of the Anyiam-Osigwe. It is a family foundation committed to meeting the ever-increasing educational needs of celebrities, youths and children by strengthening their innate, but dormant reading culture, thereby helping to broaden their horizon.

For Mrs. Anyiam-Osigwe, executive director, RFDI, learning is a treasure that follows the owner anywhere he or she goes and because of reading to children my children I left the NTA. "At RFDI, we believe that readers are leaders and reading mind is a liberated mind. We create avenue for the Nigerian child to develop its creative mind, promoting literacy, making books and other learning materials accessible by conducting book drives locally and internationally," she told THISDAY recently in Lagos.

"I knew that what I wanted to do was to have a platform to encourage people to read. That influenced the RFDI, which started five years ago. It might interest you to know that something else that inspired me to read was that my own children do not read. I have a huge library at home, but my children only stay there to play games, Internet and so on, but to actually take up a book or novel and read for leisure, they won't, and I am always complaining. When I complain to some of my friends, I hear them say that their children do not read either," she said.

Mrs. Anyiam-Osigwe said "in my findings, I discovered that most children only read textbooks and not for leisure or pleasure". Nigerians have no reading culture, unlike the Western World. We have an oral story telling tradition. They are not written in books. It is the moonlight tales system from one generation to another.

In United Kingdom, they are so used to reading as a habit. The corporate Nigeria's idea of educational support is supplying the books to the schools and so on, which is not enough. Reading for Development Initiative (RFDI) is a non~profit organisation that annually hold a book fair where all stakeholders in book publishing and school children come together to be motivated to read and go home with free books. We send people to the schools afterwards to find out how they are faring, she said.

According to her, reading requires motivation from parents, schoolteachers and the community. Children should start reading early. The books have to be colorful, bright, with characters they can relate with and generally attractive to get their attention. Story telling books have to be skillfully animated so that the kids can enjoy it and desire to read more.

Again most of our libraries are dead and kids don't have access to library and the do not read for leisure. One of the reasons while the children of the average Nigerian don't read is because they do not have access to the books. I grow up in a home where reading is important, so punishment was not being flogged, but was all about reading a book and coming out to tell the story.

However, these days do children or adult read for pleasure? Are they too busy to read? What kinds of books do they like or need to read? Does Africa lack a reading culture?

According to Anyiam-Osigwe, reading habits of African populations have been going down a lot recently. "I think the problem is the lack of coherent book development policies.

"If Nigeria as a nation wants a prosperous future of massive techno-scientific and industrial revolution, socio-political and economic renovation, she needs to embrace a reading culture like the rest of the emerging world, " she said.