Low readership, bane on education, publishing ― Ezeilo

By Dennis Agbo

Former Dean, Faculty of law in the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, UNEC, Prof. Joy Ezeilo has said that the major problem facing publishing and educational sectors were the present universal lack of readership.

Ezeilo frowned at the low investment in the educational sector by the government, noting that the school systems churn out poor quality products yearly.

She challenged Nigerian publishers to tap into modern e-publishing now that there are technological innovations such as audio reading and e-books/e-learning.

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Ezeilo spoke when she chaired the 55th annual conference and general meeting of the Nigerian Publishers Association, NPA, in Enugu on Thursday.

She said: “These days when you attend international conferences you see your counterparts from the western countries asking for soft or electronic copies, but Africans will be struggling for hard copies which they end up dumping at the airports when they are charged for excess luggage.”

In a keynote speech, Prof. Bankole Sodipo, of Babcock University, said the advent of e-books, electronic publishing and digital technology has affected publishing indirectly, but stressed that conventional publishing and e-publishing can complement each other.

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He said that some of the challenges facing publishers in Nigeria include; weak funding, which has forced many publishing houses to close shop; inadequate staffing/capacity building; cost of power; and piracy.

Sodipo recommended that the NPA should engage the Federal Government/Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for possible intervention funds, as well as partner with Nigerian libraries, universities, education ministries (in order to influence government policy on books), and international agencies for financial support.

On piracy, Prof. Sodipo stressed that pirates are dangerous people adding, “Pirates dedicate large sums of money to fight NPA. But does NPA do the same? Piracy is an organized crime, NPA needs to vote more money to fight the menace in collaboration with the Nigerian Copyright Commission,” said.

Different organizations including National Library of Nigeria, Nigerian Copyright Commission and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) sent goodwill messages to the conference which is expected to produce new leadership of the association.\

Vanguard News Nigeria

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