Mr. President, VP, Governors and Others Needs to do more Reading- Dr. Jerry Agada

It is no longer news that President Umaru Musa Yar’adua
probably spent most of hi time during his recent vacation engaging in reading activities as made public by his spokesperson, Segun Adeniyi. In this interview at a recent literary event, Dr. Jerry Agada, the immediate past Minister of State I for Education who was also the Chairman of the ministry’s National Action Committee on Read Campaign provided so insight to the President’s action.

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Recently, the news of Mr. President’s decision to spend his vacation reading took the nation by surprise. Are you surprised?

Surprise? No! I am not surprised. Instead, I was actually very happy when I read the report and I felt vindicated that what we started doing through the National Action Committee on Read Campaign is beginning to yield result. Mr. President was actually schedule to read to the nation during the Read Campaign Dinner but that was not to be as it was the Minister of Science and Technology then who represented him at the dinner and read on his behalf. Besides, it is not just our own President that is reading but other great personalities and world leaders. Recently, I watched a documentary titled ‘Obama Everywhere on CNN where President Obama of the United States went with his wife to a school. It was reported that the school authority did not have any idea of his coming because they just walked into the school to read to a class of second graders, an equivalent of primary two in Nigeria. So you can see that there is nothing new or surprising about the President decision to read. He is simply keeping up with what is expected of people of his status.

What type of book would you suggest to Mr. President to read during this reading vacation should you have the opportunity to advice him?

Mr President is well read. Prior to his becoming President, he was a University lecturer and so you can imagine the number of books he must have read. So to talk of prescribing book for him may not be a wise thing to do. For him to decide to want to spend his vacation reading, I am sure he knows the right type of books to read. If I must add then, I would think that since the essence of his vacation is to rest, he would not need books that will further strain is brain but one that will put him in a very relaxed mood. I think he should read a lot of poetry because I once read somewhere that if you are tensed, picks up a piece of poetry, read and you’ll feel relaxed. On the other hands, if he requires books that will task his intellectual capability, he knows which to choose, such that by the time he returns from his vacation he would be reinvigorated to face his duties of leading this great nation. I must confess to you that the task of leading this nation is not an easy one and so, the President needs a lot of intellectual exercises to do which reading will help him accomplish.

You popularized what is today known as I READ, I LEAD, NIGERIA READ, NIGERIA LEADS. In view of this slogan, what is your concept of reading?

What this is simply saying is that a good reader is a good leader and to become a good leader, you must be a good reader as well. This concept that I popularized has reflected in our President’s action during his vacation. Therefore the feeling that this slogan is intended to instill is that once you engage in extensive reading, you can be sure that you are on the right track because reading refreshes your mind, re-focuses your mind, builds your intellectual ability and puts you on the alert such that you are always well articulated and organized in whatever you do.

What would say is the significance of Mr. President’s reading?

Reading makes a man. Reading prepares a man, shapes him and help focuses his mind to achieve whatever he is set to achieve. In other words, to be well read is to be well informed. So for Mr. President to have decided to read, I can be sure he is looking to achieving one of the objectives above.

How can Mr. President help contribute to the development of the reading culture?

My greatest pleasure will be to see Mr. President, his Vice, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, our governors, legislators and other government functionaries and celebrities pay unscheduled visits to schools like President Obama did and read to the children as a way of encouraging them to take reading seriously. For Mr. President in particular, I don’t think it will be out of place to include in his schedule of activities to visit any school of his choice in a month to read with the pupils/students of that school. That will go a long way to boost their moral as it will have a long lasting on them. An easy way out of it is for the President during his state visits to the 36 states of the federation to include in his activities, visitation to at least 3 schools (one each fro the three tiers i.e primary, Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools) in the state.