Further to Orikinla's post titled "We need to Write and Publish More Books in Nigeria", I think that we really need to get more people reading in Nigeria. Attached below is an Interview given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  in 2005 to the Guardian Newspaper. I can't get my mind over the fact that people in Nigeria will pay more for a glossy "rag" than for a book. AMAZING!!!

What do you guys think?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  writes on on why no one reads fiction in Nigeria
(Saturday February 19 2005, The Guardian)


I went home to Nigeria shortly after my novel Purple Hibiscus was shortlisted for the Orange prize. I was in the national news. There were commentaries in the newspapers on how I had represented my country well, how I had become a role model for young people, how I
had done Nigerians proud. Yet if my novel had been first published in Nigeria, none of this would have happened. I would have had to self-publish. I would not have had an editor or publicity or marketing. The newspapers would have taken scant notice, if at all, perhaps running a summary on a review page. I would not have been entered for the Orange prize and, most of all, I would expect only family and friends to buy the novel because we are a country of people who do
not regard and do not read literature.

Many Nigerians say the reason for this is obvious: the economy. We are too poor to read. Literature is, after all, a middle-class preserve and since our middle class is being economically eroded, reading has been put aside for the pursuit of basic survival. University lecturers, for example, who were firmly middle- class 40 years ago, now straddle the line between middle and working-class conditions. They are often owed arrears of salaries and the salaries themselves are so insufficient that many turn to force-selling pamphlets to their students. In addition, electricity is erratic all over the country, fuel prices - and food prices - keep rising, running
water is a luxury and the roads are full of pot-holes. Life is precarious and harsh; it is reasonable then to expect that reading would become an irrelevance.

Yet books sell well in Nigeria. In all the bookshops I have visited, the shelves are overwhelmingly stocked with Christian and business self-help books, God's
Plan for You, The Richest Man in Babylon. This suggests, then, that our economy has not prevented us from reading; it has only prevented us from reading literature. The real reason for this may not be the economy itself, however, but what we have turned to in response to the economy: a scarcity-driven brand of religion where pastors in sleek churches assure you
that God wants you to have that new Mercedes-Benz.

Islam, a stronger force in Nigeria than Christianity, has had its own scarcity-driven mutations, but
Christian religiosity exploded in the early 1990s, when Nigeria was passed from one dictator to the other, amid the trauma of an annulled democratic election. Things had never been so bad and, in the face of a brutal government and an effete civil society, Nigerians turned to a new brand of Christianity. It was vibrant; it was intensely focused on material progress, with pastors quoting scripture that portrayed wealth as a spiritual virtue; and it was loud. People were required to talk up God all the time. Government officials were required to be publicly holy, as if this would assuage their corruption. So my former state governor, who did not pay teachers' salaries, held public prayer meetings every week. Fraudsters gave interviews where they
attributed their wealth to God. Our remarkably unpopular president said he was chosen by God.
Religion has become our answer to a failed economy; "My God is a rich God" and "Only God can save Nigeria" are popular expressions.

Christian and business self-help books sell, then, because they sustain the status quo: the former affirm that God wants you to make money while the latter teach you how to go about it. They are disquieting in their obviousness and seem informed by a rudimentary
utilitarianism: what practical and immediate 
benefit will I get from this book? Even the fiction
and poetry used as textbooks are approached in the
same way: students read them alongside pamphlets such
as  Sample Questions and Answers and they are only a
means of making up the required subjects for O-levels.
There is no room for real literature and perhaps this
is why there seems to be no room for subtlety in
Nigerian public life. Because we are not literary, we
are too literal. Because our religiosity is
individualistic, we have neglected social
consciousness.

And we have lost a sense of nuance, from the brashly self-aggrandising public letters our president writes to his detractors to the way a university student told me: "The title of your book is confusing. A book with that title should be about a flower."

Of course religion cannot be the only reason we do not read literature; there are other reasons as complex as our society. But religion is central. If our economy were to improve dramatically, our focus on scarcity would reduce, and so would our participation in the
God-give-me-money religion of desperation. The monopoly of religious and business books would be broken and publishers would take on fiction. At present, they are willing to publish and re-publish only literature used as textbooks since the market exists by necessity. General fiction has to fall back on vanity publishing - as I would have had to for  Purple Hibiscus - because it constitutes a high-risk venture. Foreign-published books don't fare much better. In Bookworm, a highbrow Lagos bookshop, there were novels by Moses Isegawa, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy. The owner was about to have a give-away sale when I visited. "Nobody buys them," she said. The fiction titles that sell to her upwardly mobile clientele are those by John Grisham; even the elite does not read serious literature. She did hope to sell a fair amount of the Nigerian edition of  Purple Hibiscus, just published by Farafina in Lagos. My publisher, Muhtar Bakare, a former banker, an idealist, a believer in literature, is selling each copy for 500 naira in a
country where glossy monthly magazines cost 1,000 naira. It is his gamble on reviving literature. We are not a nation of people who do not care for literature, he thinks, but one of enervated literary enthusiasts waiting to be jolted into reading again. Until our economy improves, his approach will be to make literature so affordable that the middle-class will
buy it in addition to books like  The Jesus Path to Making Millions .

The other day, at the Nigerian Television Authority studio where I did an interview, a woman in her early 20s came up to me and said, "Oh, you're Chimamanda. I really liked your book but I didn't like the ending. I have never finished a novel before. Now I want to read
another novel."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
--

SMC,

The problem of reading depends on the psyche of Nigerians.
Something terrible happened to our psychology during the tyranny of the evil genius, IBB and the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

Poverty is not the cause of our poor reading culture, because even the rich don't read more books than the poor in Nigeria.

Do you know that more members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) prefer to read City People social gossip newspaper to the official Redemption Light magazine of the church?

When I did the presentation of my book on Bonny Island last year, only four Nigerians bought four copies of the book. The expatriates bought more and one of them even bought five copies to give to his friends.

Nigerians prefer gossip and Dele Momodu's photo album of the rich, to reading books, except text books to pass the exams they need to acquire the certification for job security and social promotion.

Orikinla,

Quite a number of Nigeria in diaspora also avidly subscribe to the "Ovation" and "City People" culture. What can I say, the problem of lack of reading may not have it's only roots in poverty, but I think poverty plays a role in the unwillingless of the masses to read. I mean, Nigeria is a country that has been confirmed by the World bank to have a poplulation of people in which 60% live below the poverty line. In a country of about 150 million people, if an author is lucky to gain a readership of just 750 thousand of the populace (amounting to about 0.5%), such an author will have a bestseller on his/her hands.

People always criticise me for speaking out against Nigeria generally, but the reality of the matter is that Nigeria is a country that has seriously gone astray. What will you call a country which at the time of independence was hailed as a shining beacon and which was stated to be one of the most likely countries to advance into "developed" country status. Instead, what we have is a country rated as one of the 30 poorest nations on earth and one of the corrupt countries. A country where hardwork, honesty and dedication rarely yields dividends. A country where most people are obsessed by the "Get Rich Quick" mentality.

Generally, Nigeria is a country of Greed, Corruption, Poverty and above all, Nigeria is a country of Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams.

I am not being pessimistic (so please don't start preaching to me), but except some miracle happens, I do not see Nigeria recovering within the next 50 years from the quagmire it is currently embroiled in.

ALL HAIL NIGERIA!

SMC,
I am hopeful that God is already at work to reform Nigeria.

Why I say poverty is not to blame for the poor reading culture is my discovery that the rich don't read much in the Nigerian society.

Art appreciation depends on Art education and the misconception of most Nigerians is based on their fears of social insecurity. They are materialistic in their self-gratification and acquisition of social status symbols. Books do not translate to cash to them, except the books are on how to make fast buck and get rich quick schemes.

The fact that, Nigerians read social gossip newspapers and magazines, confirms that poverty is not the excuse for their poor reading habit. Because, books are actually very cheap if you want to read them.

There are booklets of romantic stories sold on the streets like the Onitsha Market Literature of the 1960s and 1970s, but they are not selling as the Pacesetter series sold in the 1980s.

Cheap novels and other books are sold for less than $1 on the streets of Nigerian towns and cities and I don't see Nigerians gathering to buy them. But they spend over $1 to $7 to buy Hints, City People, True Love, Ovation, porn magazines and other publications on gossip, petty social romance and sharp practices.
A pornographic novel will sell more than Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun in Nigeria.

My Language of True Love is selling, because it is a book of love quotes and kisses and how to know if your lover loves you. And most of the readers buy the book to copy the quotes and learn the kisses for their romantic and erotic pursuits. Finis.

If you write a gossip novel on scandals among the rich and famous in Nigeria, most Nigerians will read it. But if you write a Nigerian version of Tolstoy's Resurrection, then be ready to starve until it wins the Nigeria LNG Prize or Man Booker Prize.

If we use social marketing strategies to promote an active reading culture in Nigeria, we can succeed.
Use a book as the subject for DEAL OR NO DEAL Game Show and announce that the first to read the book wins $100,000. Millions of Nigerians will rush to read the book to win that $100,000.

Publishers should promote books on popular TV shows as Oprah Winfrey does.
Put books on Big Brother, Ultimate Search and similar shows and attach attractive prizes to them and Nigerians will rush to read them.

Publishers should include winning return tickets to Sun City, South Africa or to other exotic resorts in America and Europe to woo readers.

Simply say, a return ticket to London with all expenses paid for a week is hidden in one of the copies of Helon Habila's novel and Nigerians will rush to buy the book.

The more copies you buy, the more chances you have to win the prize!

We have to lure and woo Nigerians to read books until they become sensitized to read more books without pampering them.

When I get some cash ill definatly buy her book. Im very curious now. I have read a few BOOKS BUY Nigerian authors before, and found them very good.

Vintage:

When I get some cash ill definatly buy her book. I'm very curious now. I have read a few BOOKS BUY Nigerian authors before, and found them very good.

There are loads of great books by Nigerian authors. I wish they were much more accessible here in the west.

Two Hungers, One in the stomach & another in the head, The Nigerian ranks that of the head below and that of the stomach above.
In the desert, what are people burning for, books or life sustaining water?
I think it takes being in Nigeria and a Nigerian to truly understand else all judgments will be without knowledge.

More writers and more readers for sure!

we need to read more in nigeria, but we dot have to lambast and blame it on religion, economy and all the factors chimamanda mentioned in her article. there are some nigerians who read books, that should show that it is a personal problem. there are lots of encouraging factors that promotes this trend, but it does not mean that it is a national thing.
besides, more nigerians should write more interesting books and make them available. lets see if the few good ones wont read them. that should be a good start.

See my comprehensive analysis on http://www.nigeriansreport.com/2010/11/nigeria-where-they-do-not-read-books.html.

Yes, the average Nigerians truly doesn't read. It's almost a hopeless situation among adults. We are inured to not wanting to read except for empty fashion and celeb magazines of course and a few inspirational books on how to get rich etc etc.

I think there's still hope for the children. If kids can be brought up with a love of books then chances are higher they will carry this habit into adulthood. The onus is on parents to get good reads for their children particularly during the holidays and not leave their entertainment to Cartoon Network.

There are a number of internet websites springing up these days where parents can buy good books for their kids. There's www.highqs.com and there's another one that's owned by South Africans kalahari or something.

I really do believe reading reaps bushels of benefits and the earlier we inculcate good reading habits in our children, the better for the society.

You can check http://sunshinebookseller..com/

yes, we need to read more book in nigeria, reading is one of the way to access the heritage of the past generation

visit http://nigeriainfomarketing..com/ to get ebooks on various topic for just 100 naira only

I opened a bookstore twice in two different locations and couldn't sell enough books to recoup the rent of the two places and so had to close up. it was a very disappointing moment. when people come into your store, they view what u have and promise coming back but u don't see them again. that's how bad it is in Nigeria

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Orikinla i agree with you but you forgot about the issue of piracy.

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