Issues
Redirecting The Focus Of Library Services
Talking about books, what immediately comes to mind is the library. In Anglo-American and former Soviet Union, evidence abound on the role libraries played in their national development. Some writers have attributed Japan’s economic and technological growth since World War II to well developed scientific and technological information centres. In the light of this, one will like to highlight some of the important roles libraries in Nigeria could also play in the present socio-economic development of the country and also bring to the attention of government some of the problems confronting these libraries today.
Library services in this country over the years have largely focused on lending books to users. Today, their services have expanded to include many others such as reference services, interlibrary loan and document delivering services, selective dissemination of information, and services to our rural communities.
Some libraries in Nigeria also have internet-based services that provide access to timely information from remote distances, thanks to information technology.
School libraries can play a very important role in education, which is about helping children to develop their potential to the full through learning and discovering facts themselves.
The government of Nigeria today spends an average of about 24 percent of its current budget on education. The statistics also show that nearly 70 percent of children attend primary schools.
It is very important that during these formative years in the life of the children, they are provided with access to a world of information through the provision of libraries. This will create information- seeking habits in them and stimulate them to discover more of the world around them, thus broadening their horizon. This will obviously improve the quality of our education, leading to a proper manpower resource base for the country.
In Nigeria, very few parents can afford to buy books for their wards. Most students depend on their teachers’ notes for learning and, therefore, know very few little beyond what they are taught in class. A school library can therefore make up for the short coming in class and help to break this textbook tradition, thus complementing the efforts of teachers. For the teachers, it will help their professional development since it will make resources available to them for teaching and research.
One reason why most people do not use public libraries in Nigeria is because they do not develop reading habits in school. Most students today enter institutions of higher learning without knowing how to obtain information. A properly developed school library can, therefore, become a good training ground for students proceeding to higher education where independent and self directed studies are very important.
Public libraries in Nigeria can promote vocational aptitudes of the large number of rural people. It can do this by providing a referral point where people can get information to improve their knowledge and methods in areas such as farming, fishing, small scale industries, animal husbandry and even handicraft.
Secondly, in a society like Nigeria where economic and social factors frequently forces individuals out of school at an early age, and where part-time correspondence and professional courses are scarcely available, public libraries can provide the opportunities for individuals to undertake some self-improvement studies at their own pace and time. Related to the above is the present adult education programme of the government. If public libraries are integrated, they can provide follow-up literature to help these adult graduates retain the capacity they have acquired in order to participate effectively in the democratic process.
It is estimated presently that Nigeria has an illiterate population of over 70 percent who know every little about the economic and social changes taking place hence do not participate in it. If one considers that literacy is a prerequisite for participation in a democratic process, then a well developed public service library will not only be a place where people can do serious studies, but also learn about current development taking place which will make them politically alive.
In Russia, Cuba, Jamaica and Tanzania, public libraries played very active roles in their literacy campaign and Nigeria can learn from the examples of these counties.
Special libraries are very crucial to industrial and commercial development. In the industrialized countries like the US, France, Germany and the UK, they sprang up to meet the demands for support for post-war research activities and to provide the scientific and technical literature needed for development. Nigeria can learn a lot from these countries by developing its special libraries.
The government today has put a lot of companies on the divestiture list due to poor performance. The sad thing is that great amount of grey literature lies waste, whose economic significance has not yet been realized by decision bodies and companies.
A well developed special library system can make available such research results and information, in appropriately packaged forms, for the benefit of government policy- makers, planners, production services, scientific research workers, small scale public manufacturers and industrialists. The resultant effect will be improved methods of production of goods and services which will lead to rapid growth in all sectors of the economy.
Academic institutions are engaged in teaching and research aimed at advancing knowledge in areas such as the social, economic and scientific conditions of a country. It is, therefore, the major source of production of light level manpower as well as research findings which the government depends on for its developmental plans.
Most government sponsored research projects are carried out in academic institutions. A well developed library services will, therefore, provide Industrialists, consultants and scientists, the information resource base they need for their work and save them the labour of looking for information which they cannot find.
An academic library will be good training ground for students. By proving an avenue for finding out information, they will develop in students the habit of finding different approaches to problem solving which will remain with them forever.
Finally, the country needs a national library and information system which will not only coordinate the activities of the other types of libraries, but also provide leadership in the provision of information for national development.
Presently, there are a lot of written works on Nigeria which are not known. A National library with legal depository rights can undertake to collect all such works both in the country and outside and also produce a national bibliography which will represent the nation’s heritage of recorded literature.
Furthermore, national reports, statistics technical and scientific reports which are normally not found in the conventional literature can be preserved by a national library.
Such a library will also maintain a union catalogues of all other existing types of libraries and can, therefore, be relied on for locating information in any part of the country.
In spite of the tremendous contributions that our libraries could make to the social economic development of Nigeria, as highlighted above, libraries in Nigeria today are plagued with a number of problems which need the urgent attention of government.
In Nigeria today, the perception of the role of libraries in socio-economic development is a poor one.
Nkpemenyie Mcdomic
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
