Imbibe Reading Culture for Personal, National Devt, Students Told
Peace Obi Students in Nigeria and across the world have been urged to imbibe the reading culture as it not only enrich their minds, but serves as a tool for personal and national development.
Speaking at the 18th edition of the World Book Day, organised by the Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Ikeja, Lagos, the guest speaker, Mrs. Ijeoma Onyeator, a presenter with Channels Television Network, said through education, individuals and nations could be catapulted from obscurity to limelight.
Citing herself as an example, the newscaster said though she attended a public school in Onike,Yaba, it didn’t stop her from realising her dream of being who she is today. She insisted that reading is a starting step to many great heights and that one’s knowledge is only limited to the extent of his her exposure. On the importance of reading to the development of the mind, Onyeator said the difference between herself and her classmates in secondary school that didn’t go far in their career pursuit was what she did afterwards.
Quoting from Nelson Mandela’s work ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’, she said: “Education is the greatest engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor; that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine; that the child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given that separates one person from another.”
The Principal of the college, Mrs. Amber Fowler, said the school understands the power of reading, hence the commemoration of World Book Day annually to promote reading culture among students, teachers and the entire populace. She said the school aims to produce global minded people. “You cannot have a global mindset if you are not a reader. And we are looking to develop global minded persons.” Fowler stressed that no individual or society can witness a steady and meaningful progress without reading books. “World Book Day is for our students and invited guests to understand this fact that for you to grow, for you to make progress, for you to think outside the box, you have to start reading books.”
She added that through books, people discover and imbibe some profitable values other than the family values they are familiar with. “One of the speakers and a parent who read a book ‘My Vision’, made us to understand that Dubai as a country, probably started off not even where we were 20 years ago. And through the book, generations can see that we all have to come and sow into our nation. We all have to change of our thinking because you cannot have a global mindset if you are not a reader.”