Primary schools pupils in Kaduna State will get a fresh impetus to learn, as 100 primary schools in the state become beneficiaries of a mobile library each with 100 beautiful and colourfully illustrated storybooks for reading pleasure.
These were delivered to governor Malam Nasir El Rufai, with the formal handover ceremony at LGEA Sheikh Abubakar Gumi Model Primary School, Polytechnic Road, Tudun Wada, Kaduna, by an oil firm, Marine Platform. It was in fulfillment of a promise it made last year.
While speaking on behalf of Marine Platform at the festival, Nyam had acknowledged the uneven access to educational facilities in the region, particularly books, and stated his company’s desire to bridge it.
According to him, “Because I work with an oil and gas service company, I have had the privilege of visiting and living in many Nigerian states. Without a doubt, there is unevenness in how much access children have to good books, which encourage them to imagine different futures for themselves. I’m from Kaduna State and I know that my state and others in the north of the country do not have the depth of reading culture that they should.
“A few months ago, when Marine Platforms was thinking about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how best to go about it, my colleague, Taofik Adegbite, bumped into Lola Shoneyin at a party and they got talking. In just a few months working with Lola, we have refined our goals. The work that Book Buzz Foundation (organisers of Ake Arts and Book Festival) does is closely aligned with our aims. We want to support children in Northern Nigeria”.
“We are going to start by rolling out 100-book libraries across Northern Nigeria so that when the children have their state-stipulated reading time, they will have beautiful, colourful books to dip into and get lost.”
At Governor Malam Nasir El Rufai’s office, with some of his cabinet members present, including Commissioner for Education and Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas-sponsored The Nigerian Science Prize winner, Prof. Jonathan Nok, Nyam presented a sample of the mobile libraries with the books stocked in it.
According to Nyam, “We believe it’s a scalable model and, for us, this is not the end of the cooperation. We will work with the state government in whatever way we can. And we hope that that fire of inquisitiveness will be ignited in the children to make them better adults later in life.”
In his response, El Rufai thanked Nyam and his company, Marine Platform, and said, “I don’t know where to start but to thank you for what you are doing, for delivering on your promise. We want to revamp our libraries in Kaduna State and ensure that in every local government area there is one functioning and well equipped library with triple offering: books, electronics as well as textbooks. This is because when our students sit for national examinations, they travel long distances to take the Computer-based Test (CBT).
“Your contribution is significant and creative. We hope to adopt your model and scale it up. It is sad that young people don’t read any more; they prefer visuals and they love pictures. We have to find ways to make young people interested in reading and have access to libraries and good books. We pray God to help expand Marine Platform’s business so that you can do more for us.”
As part of El Rufai’s innovative approach of putting young people first, he has sponsored children twice to Ake Arts and Book Festival so they can be part of the ambience of writers and thinkers. “I actually sponsored children to Ake festival,” he said. “I hope we sponsor more next year to get them interested in reading and writing.”
At LGEA Sheikh Abubakar Gumi Model Primary School, Kaduna, where Marine Platform Mobile Library initiative was flagged off, project consultant, Lola Shoneyin told the children about the good fortune that had come to them, being beneficiaries of wonderful books through the benevolence of Marine Platform. She got the children thoroughly engaged with her dramatic antics and the children responded in kind, answering all her questions.
Two pupils, Aisha Abdulwasi’u and Muhsin Adam, sampled the books by reading excerpts to the admiration of everyone present. The entire class took the books from the library shelves and leafed through them, admiring the glossy colours, photographs and texts.
MARINE Platform’s other goal is to encourage and empower writers from Northern Nigeria to excel in their craft. Five writers from the region were rewarded last year with cash as a gesture of appreciation for putting the North in renewed literary consciousness through their creative works. Those who were rewarded included Samira Haruna Sanusi for S is for Survivor, Halima Aliyu for Fire on the Tip of Ice, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim for Season of Crimson Blossom, Elnathan John for Born on a Tuesday and Maryam Bogi for Bongel. They were rewarded with N200,000 each for writing the North into immortality.
