Why students lack reading skills – Suleja emir

Poor and deteriorating reading habit among students is as a result of excessive use of social media, Emir of Suleja Malam Awwal Ibrahim has said.

He said most students did not engage in ‘intellectual discourse,’ rather, they spent quality of their time browsing the net.

The emir made the comments yesterday at the ‘11th literature in northern Nigeria conference’ hosted by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja. He said students were rarely interested in reading because of free and uncontrolled access to internet and that parents, teachers and policy makers had to remedy the situation.

He said libraries could help in reviving the low reading habit among the youths and that the newly established e-libraries in schools must play a role in students’ abilities and performance in exams.

He said literature was a source of entertainment and enlightenment.

NOUN’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu said the franchise literature in northern Nigeria drew attention to the rich literary heritage of the region, regardless of region as well as established a focal interest in the development of indigenous scholarship in the region in all spheres of knowledge.

In his key note address, Professor emeritus Graham Furniss of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, said the greatest task facing the academic community in Hausa studies ‘was the one on archiving and preservation.’

He said “in addition to the problems of maintaining the manuscripts and paper materials, and making sure they are collected safely in the first place, there is the major problem of change in technology.”