Young Nigerians have been advised to adopt reading culture and utilise their phones for accessing books, rather than wasting away their time on social media.
Mr Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, Managing Consultant of a Kano-based publishing outfit, Fombina Imprints Limited, gave the advise on Wednesday, at a symposium organised in Kano, to commemorate the World Book and Copyright Day.
The theme for the day is, “Crisis of Standards, Decline of Reading Culture, and the Challenges of Publishing in the Digital Era: The Place of Books in the Restoration and Transformation of Our Education Sector.”
The World Book and Copyright Day is an annual event, set aside by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Ya’u, was represented by Isa Garba, Senior Programme Officer at the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), emphasised the role of literature in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He identified deteriorating standard of the educational system and reduction of the value of knowledge in the society, as issues affecting reading culture among the youths.
He advised young Nigerians to use their mobile technologies to access digital versions of revised and authored books, which would reduce the intake of misinformation on social platforms.
The managing consultant noted that books are in both soft and hard copies, while social media is not censored; hence everybody can be an author.
Similarly, Prof. Lukman Diso, a lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Sciences at Bayero University, Kano, emphasised that books are essential for both individual and national development.
“A reading nation is a progressive nation. No nation can develop without reading. Any development in this world is a product of reading,”he noted.
Spotlight reports that parts of activities to mark the day include, book exhibition, book gifting and panel discussions on the challenges of reading culture and publishing.
The event was attended by authors, publishers, scholars, students, and readers to reflect on the role of books in a rapidly changing world.