Reading Culture Is Dying In Nigeria Due To Social
Media-Yusuf Ali
Yusuf Ali is one of Nigeria’s finest
and renowned lawyers (SAN),who has been supporting the Association of Nigerian
Authors (ANA), with the grant for literary awareness in Nigeria. He spoke with
ADEOLA OGUNRINDE on the importance of improving literature/literacy in Nigeria,
and why he wrote a book on corruption.
I discovered that over time, the
reading culture was dying in our country and no thanks to the social media.
Many young people prefer social media rather than reading. There is a lot of
beauty and the knowledge acquired through reading which is much more lasting. I
now discovered that this affected the communication of the youth as some
could not construct good sentences. I constituted the grant not just for
literary awareness in reading but also for writing.
The Grant started 2012. Over the
years have you been impressed with the results or do you feel more needs to be
done?
I think ANA has been trying with the
grant. I think they started by giving out grant in secondary schools for
literary awareness every year and I think all the 36 states have been covered
now. I have seen result because I get copies of new works by ANA members
both young and old every year and its quite impressive, both fiction and
non-fiction works. I only pray that others come in so that there could be more
outreach.
What can be done to draw young
Nigerians away from the social media, encourage them to read more as some
actually live their life day to day on social media?
I believe parents should do more.
Parents who read and write should encourage their children to read and write.
When they see their parents picking up books to read, they will also be
encouraged to pick books to read. Let’s institute more prizes in our secondary
schools, quiz, debates. I remember in my days we had competition in my school
and we’d go to other schools for competitions and when we won, we got prizes. I
still have some of the prizes I won in both quiz and debate. Let’s also
institute prizes for reading. That is why I am calling on other philanthropists
to contribute to ANA by instituting more prizes not only to write but to read
as well.
You are also a writer yourself and
you just publised a book on corruption. Why corruption and not other issues
about Nigeria?
The reason I believe is that
corruption is the most singular disease that has taunted our country, Nigeria,
and paralysed our growth. Corruption has dropped Nigeria in a sorry state in
which we find ourselves. If you remove 50 percent of Nigeria’s corruption ,
Nigeria will be a great nation like other countries. We have so much challenges
in terms of infrastructure, good roads, portable water, good health care
facilities. All these shortcomings are there because of corruption.
You are also a lawyer. What do you
think about the Judicial system in Nigeria from independence up until now. What
can younger lawyers learn from the older ones?
The Judicial system is what we
inherited from the colonial masters. Of course, before they came, we had the
customary law and the Islamic law in place. They came and introduced the common
law. I want to say the Nigerian Judiciary has conducted itself properly in the
society. It is our system of government that has failed our country. It has
seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Of all the three arms of government, the
Judiciary has stood the test of time above the Executive and the Legislature.
You must remember that the Legislature is the youngest of the three arms, not forgetting the long dictator rule in this country by the military government. In terms of performance, the judiciary has done well. Like any other human being, there’s always room for improvement…room to do more.
Our younger people, the problem that
has befallen our country is our love for materialism. Everybody looks at the
quickest way to get rich which has misled the ethics of our society. Younger
people should not look at materialism as the beginning and end of success.
Success is when you do well in your chosen field and people recognise you for
what you are doing. Integrity is the cornerstone of success. Our younger people
should imbibe the spirit and culture of integrity and hard work. I believe if
you have those qualities, you will do well.
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