Damiete Braide
CSS Bookshops Limited celebrated World Book Day with pupils of Diamond Private School, TBS, Lagos, Value Added Nursery and Primary School, Tinubu Square, Lagos, and Rizyok Nursery and Primary School, Tinubu Square, Lagos, by giving them books and educating them on the processes of publishing books when the pupils paid a courtesy visit to the organisations headquarters in Lagos last week. At the end of the tour, the pupils were encouraged to imbibe good reading culture and make reading books part of their daily routine.
Mrs. Bosede Adu, Sales Manager, Corporate Affairs and Juliet Okoro, Publishing Editor, with other officials of CSS Bookshops Limited took the pupils with their teachers on a tour round their facility.
In her address of welcome, Mrs Adu told the pupils, “Work Book Day also known as World Book and Copyright Day or the International Day of the Book is an annual event invented in 1995 by UNESCO in which a book is given to every child to mark the event. Also, World Book Day is a wonderful opportunity for CSS Bookshops Limited to showcase the essence and the core values of our trade and it is a good thing that CSS Bookshops has joined in this charity act of honouring young minds and encouraging them to read.”
She enjoined the pupils to uphold the habit of reading in a bid to achieve the ultimate goal in life, while Nigerians and corporate organisations should partake in this yearly event by donating at least a book to every child around them and encourage everybody to read. In doing so, they will help to build a better future for Nigerians.
She further stated the relevance of World Book Week to Nigerians as a nation was that they needed to learn and read continuously so as to be up-to-date on events around the world.
“Anybody that stops learning and reading is dead but not yet buried, so also any country that does not partake or support educative events, as this is not catering for tomorrow,” he said.
Also speaking, Juliet Okoro added World Book Week was an opportunity to celebrate the impact of books in the society and appreciate all those responsible for the availability of books.
Okoro used the occasion to explain to the pupils the place of publishers in the book industry, which was hitherto unknown to them. She also taught them the processes of books getting to the shelves of bookshops, that is, authors write; publishers publish; printers print and the bookshops sell the books.
A pupil of Diamond Private School, Segun, said, “CSS Bookshop is beautiful, a great company, and had so many books in the bookshop while Bimpe from Value Added Nursery and Primary School said books make the world go round and a reading mind is a learning mind which makes people to adopt good reading habits.”
Eze from Rizyok Nursery and Primary School described CSS Bookshop as a wonderful place to be with varieties of books and stationery items to offer, and that he was impressed with the display of school materials.
When probed why books were given to the pupils as gifts, Managing Director, CSS Bookshops Limited, Oluwadare Oluwatuyi, responded, “This is not the first time we are hosting pupils and students on World Book Day. But this year’s celebration was different. It was done to also commemorate our 150th anniversary as a corporate organisation in the business of publishing and bookselling.
“This year, we made the World Book Day a week full of activities. We made concerted efforts by inviting a number of schools and our intention was to have at least one school visiting our bookshop each day from Monday to Friday on a sort of excursion type. The schools invited were given a specific day and time to visit, but, to my surprise, some schools declined by giving flimsy excuses.
Shedding more light, Oluwatuyi hinted that this year’s World Book Day celebration at CSS Bookshops Limited was part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We organised promotional sales outside the bookshop where most of the titles on sales were sold at give-away prices. But before that week, such titles cost a minimum of N1000.
“We also gave free books to the children and each pupil went home with books. Their teachers were not left out as they also got various gift items. This is a way of giving back to the communities we operate. Each year, we make donations of books through the government or directly to schools. Last year, we made donations of books to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) through the Nigeria Publishers Association.”
Oluwatuyi, who is also President of Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA), enjoined fellow practitioners to allow the restoration of the book chain with the concern of its primary profession. He emphasised that publishers should sell to bookshops and to not to schools, while schools should concern themselves with educating the students and hands off the business selling books within the school.