Team Bayode makes history, sets new world read-aloud record

Team Bayode makes history, sets new world read-aloud record

By Ada Anioji

A team of five Nigerian volunteers led by Mr Bayode Treasures Olawumi has made history this Tuesday as they successfully completed a reading challenge for a new world read-aloud record.

The event which took place at the Herbert Macaulay Library, Yaba, Lagos and was supported by a motley of organisations and institutions had commenced on December 1st and continued for a record 20 days  (480 hours).

The previous record, which had been set in Asia, was for 15 days.

With this development, the team of five Nigerians led by Mr Bayode Treasures Olawumi of iRead Afrika/Read2Build, and with the endorsement of organisations like the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Promoters in Nigeria. NBRP, CSS Bookshops Limited, Arepo Book Club and the Lagos State Government, has successfully rounded off the World’s Longest Read Aloud Session.

The  volunteers read as many as an estimated 70 books from cover to cover. Each participant took turns to read between 30 minutes to 3 hours innone stretch before handing over to the next person and no one left the libraruy complex for the 20days while the session lasted. Bayode, who led them had previously broken the world record for the longest marathon read aloud reading session by an individual in 2018 when her read for 123 hours none stop.

At the close of the day, the five volunteers had read for 480 hours (20 days) non stop from December 1-21, 2021, at the Herbert Macaulay Library, Yaba Lagos, Nigeria.

According to Bayode, the challenge is in aid of expanding the library infrastructure in rural Nigeria and motivating more Nigerians to embrace the culture of reading as a life-long habit.

Project Coordinator, Bayode Treasures Olawumi and CSS Bookshops MD and President, Booksellers Association, Mr Dare Oluwatuyi, during a solidarity visit on the 17th day of the reading challenge.