Unilorin professor laments decline in reading habit in Nigeria

By SAKA Laaro, Ilorin

A University Don Professor of Library and Information Science, University of Ilorin, Adetoun Omolola Idowu, has lamented the declining reading culture in Nigeria.

He said youths now take delight in social media, wonder if “the library is still relevant as a resource to our educational system?”

Prof. (Mrs.) Idowu, who delivered the 200th Inaugural Lecture of the University in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, sought urgent reversal of this ugly trend by the federal, state and local governments, while also challenging educators, especially librarians, to be upto- date, committed, visionary and resourceful in their duties.

According to her, “Primary and secondary schools should not be registered by the Ministries of Education if the schools do not have functional libraries and trained librarians on their staff list. When this is done, quite a huge number of Library and Information Science graduates could then be employed to provide effective library service to our teeming youths.”

She also recommended that all academic libraries should be automated, saying that is the current trend in the discipline, while also urging that all academic library facilities should be equipped with anti-theft gadgets so as to reduce loss of expensive and scarce equipment and resources acquired the library.

To encourage readership, especially among the youths, Prof. Idowu stressed the need for academic libraries to be flexible enough to accommodate the yearnings, needs, and even nuances, of younger generation of users who are technology savvy.