Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara has lamented the poor reading culture in Nigeria and Africa at large, blaming it for the poor leadership in the continent.
Dogara argued that Nigerians always choose to celebrate mundane things instead of seeking knowledge that will add values to them as individuals and society at large.
The ex-Speaker attributed the challenges confronting Nigeria and Africa to poor reading culture even among leaders who are expected to be role models.
He said: “All of us are differently gifted, massively talented. The difference between the person who remains, who will not make it, is someone who fails to discover his destiny. And if you must discover your destiny, then you have to go into books. You have to. It is said, and I will say it here that, before you act, think. But more importantly, before you think, read. For someone who is studious, he doesn’t react to events.
“When something happens to him, instead of reacting, he responds. I wish so many leaders in Africa, in Nigeria, across all strata of positions in government will be people who are bookworms because book worms, those who are addicted to studying, they always end up as acclaimed leaders,” Dogara said.
The former Speaker, according to a statement by his media aide, Turaki Hassan in Bauchi on Sunday, spoke at the weekend in Jos during the launch of a book titled: “Without A Name”, written by Mr. Emmanuel Gogwim Kayi, a retired permanent secretary and former editor of the Nigerian Standard Newspaper.
In the book, Mr. Kayi narrated how the entire members of the editorial board of the Standard Newspaper under him lost their jobs after publishing an editorial condemning the military for annulling the June 12 1993 presidential election won by late Chief Moshood Abiola.
Dogara continued, “It is quite an amazing thing that we choose to celebrate things that don’t make much sense while the real things, efforts like this that we have to put our emphasis on, to read, we don’t bother about them. Everything that is precious is hidden. Even the clothes that we wear hide some parts that are precious to us. So, God likewise, God is too big to create something that will not function, or to create something that is not important.
“Life can never give you or offer you more than who you are. But the good thing is that you can become more and the only way you can become more is to improve yourself. If you can addict yourself to study, forget about the other books, even if it is just the scripture. You say that you want to become an expert for instance, in the Quran or the Bible, imagine who you’ll be. Just imagine. But a lot of people will walk out of here, they may even get the book and like that pastor who confessed for forgiveness, never even open the book after they have bought it. So, that is the tragedy of the Black man.”
He stressed that the book offers more than the name, underscoring the passion of the author and gripping display of character, noting that, “character which is lacking right now in our leaders in Nigeria. You know when we talk about the whole character, the reason why alphabets are called characters is that they never change. A is A whether in Nigeria, in Jos, in Abuja, anywhere you go to. Z is Z in all the places you go to. 1 is 1, it can never change.”
He continued, “If you can say one thing and do another thing, you don’t have character and that is what we talk about when we say that God is one. The oneness of God is that you cannot separate God from His word. The moment you can separate God’s word from God, He ceases to be God.”
Dogara lauded the author who as a young man then decided to stand with the oppressed in spite of the opportunities that were offered to him, nothing, “it is said that if you choose to stand with the oppressed, you get treated yourself as the oppressed. No wonder he lost his job as at that time. When we are talking about the June 12 1992 election.
“He willingly sacrificed his job in the defence of the oppressed and that is what is lacking now in Nigeria,” Dogara said.
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