Nigerian libraries to get a boost as National Library, NBRP sign pact

By Ada Anioji

Libraries in Nigeria are set to get a boost following the signing of a pact between the National Library of Nigeria and the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters in Nigeria, NBRP, The Difference has learnt.

The pact was initialled as part of the determination of both organisations to jointly enhance the culture of reading in Nigeria through collaborating on the establishment and functioning of book clubs in public libraries in Nigeria, and it would see the signatories, the National Library of Nigeria and the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters in Nigeria, NBRP collaborating on a number of initiatives as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital..

The agreement which was initialled on the sidelines of a South South Zonal Sensitization Workshop on ISBN, ISSN and Legal Deposit Compliance for Publishers, Authors, Printers, Librarians and Other Stakeholders, takes effect from November 1, 2022.

The Agreement was signed by Prof Chinwe Veronica Anunobi, National Librarian and CEO, National Library of Nigeria, and Mr Richard Mammah, President, Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters in Nigeria, NBRP.

Speaking during the session, Anunobi affirmed that the National Library was not only concerned with the process of producing books but also with their consumption. According to her, it is to more deeply engage the consumption and readership dimensions of the mandate of the library that it has deemed it fit to enter into this collaboration with NBRP.

‘While we produce, we must also read. This is more so as you really cannot do well in the world of today if you do not read. That is why we have invited promoters of reading to come and sign this MoU with us,’ Anunobi emphasised.

In his own remarks, Mammah observed that one of the things that the NBRP had found out in the course of it’s work was that Nigerians were not using the existing public reading spaces in the country as much as they could. He stressed the determination of NBRP to help drive more reading traffic to existing public libraries as a first step in enhancing and actualizing our national reading capacity.

The session was chaired by the founder of Topfaith University, Mkpatak, Akwa Ibom State, Dr Emmanuel Abraham, and had in attendance, the University Librarian Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Prof Felicia Etim; a PDP Senatorial Candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Barrister Ekong Sampson; founder, Uyo Book Club, Dr Udeme Nana; and the representative.of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, among others.

NBRP, which is the umbrella organization of book clubs in Nigeria, had as part of it’s Second National Conference and AGM in September signed a related agreement with the umbrella organisation of librarians in the country, the Nigerian Library Association, NLA.