Fred Ezeh, Abuja
A Non Governmental Organisations (NGO), Reading Culture Advocacy Initiative (RCAI) took its reading campaign to public schools in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The campaign which was designed to expose students to the benefits of reading, kicked-off at Government Secondary School (GSS), Tudun Wada, Zone 4, Abuja.
The NGO equally donated different types of books and other literary works, that would encourage and inspire the students to be more studious for a fulfilled career and future.
Executive Director of the organisation, Okoro Onyeji, who led other officials from the organisation, UNESCO and other relevant organisations to the school disclosed that 11 other public schools in FCT would benefit from the gesture.
In his interactions with the students, Onyeji used empirical evidences to convince the students that readers are always ahead of their contemporaries, in terms of knowledge and awareness.
He told the pupils that success secrets of world richest persons and other great people that have distinguished themselves in business, technology, education, governance and other fields of endeavour are found in books.
He said: “Today’s world is obviously ruled by knowledge and books are among the major sources of the knowledge and skills upon which the world is based are derived. Reading is most important in knowledge and skills acquisition which we need to succeed in life.
“Many of you admire people like Bill Gate, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg and many other global names. But they didn’t achieve that status on the platter of gold. They acquired knowledge through studies, utilised the knowledge and achieved success. It’s not a rocket science. You too can outperform them if you work harder.
“I have seen pictures of their libraries and it points to the fact that they were and are still great readers. Reading of books was invaluable to their successes in science, technology, business and other areas.
“For you to succeed in academics or examinations, and even in life generally, you must be studious enough because the secrets of successful people buried in books. Reading illuminates and terminate ignorance, hence the need not limit one’s self to a particular subject or area because no knowledge is waste.”
He said they would continue to work with partners like the National Library of Nigeria, UNESCO and other relevant organisations to drive the reading campaign to boost skills and intellectual capacity of future generations.
Head of curriculum department, FCT Secondary Education Board, Goroh Akiru, commended the NGO for the gesture. He said that FCT administration will continue to welcome and support private interventions that would improve the standards and quality of education.
He encouraged the students to make good use of the books that was donated to their schools, handle them carefully so that others could use them in future.
Principal of the School, Zubairu Avutu, in his remarks, promised to sustain the reading campaign in the school. He assured the people that the books would be properly used and carefully handled by the students.