Need For Functional Libraries In LGAs

Education is now increasingly becoming a race between history and catastrophie. Yet  its dream and pursuit has remained  the most needed impetus to drive our civilization.

The urge and passion that propelled people to seek knowledge  genuinely  through extensive  reading and research development  is today whittled down by a dangerous  penchant on the part of the youth to cut coners to achieve  personal  gains. No thanks to the high premium on paper qualification which used to be seen as  meal ticket to access juicy opportunities. Today, it appears that violence has been institutionalised  as a potent bargain weapon  for the youths  to get deserving attention, at the expense of the search for genuine knowledge.

Our youths today  no longer find pleasure and satisfaction in engaging in intellectual and academic activities as symbolized by regular visits and use of public libraries, where ideas are shared among budding  intellectuals. The  experience of the times has stifled the interest in the pursuit of knowledge, resulting in the abuse of intellectual powers. A most ominous sign, is that most  young people  today assess themselves through an exotic and flamboyant lifestyle completely devoid of the  nexus of knowledge  and its application which is the  guiding  philosophy of life. They end  up consumed by their ignorance, having failed to fill their emptiness through functional education.

A critical component of educational development in our society is the use of libraries. Libraries provide the veritable platform for the exercise of the mind which is our fundamental resource base. Libraries as custodians of intellectual properties and historical artifacts are essential to our individual and institutional development.  In Rivers State, public  libraries managed under the Rivers State Library Board has its central offices at Benard Carr Street, Port Harcourt, and Afam Street in D/line  also in Port Harcourt.

A visit to the central library  in Port Harcourt will expose  the depth of degradation of the  library which was a divisional library under the defunct Eastern Nigeria Government .

The Jubilee Library at Afam Street was an interventionist scheme, by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NNPC Joint Venture, to mark the 25

th anniversary of the creation of Rivers State.

Today the two libraries need expansion and repair of basic infrastructures which are over-stretched because of the  teeming number of users.

Most of the library users sit on the field  under trees to read because of lack of space. The expected services of the library are lacking, as the buildings are hollow and bereft of its cherished  possessions, quality books, artifacts aesthetics etc. Because of population  explosion in the  township, most people can no longer have good acces to the public libraries. But it is also interesting to note that the  bulk of our population live in the rural areas. Apart from functionally  equipping  the public libraries  in Port Harcourt, there is also need to establish functional libraries  in the rural areas.

The establishment of libraries in the local government areas as affiliate to the central library  at Bernard Carr, could be  adopted as pet projects by local government chairmen, as a way of  enabling the rural populace to have access to conducive  learning environment. It is perhaps a more rewarding measure  of empowerment than to dole out money to a selected bunch of loyalists  in the name of empowerment.

In carrying out such projects, the management of the Rivers State Library Board should be involved to effect the desired training in manpower and professional service delivery.

The LGAs that have existing public libraries should  upgrade them and encourage  people through awareness creation to use them.

A public affairs analyst  who commented on the situation recently, frowned  at the disengagement of youths from the process of learning.

According to him.  “It is most disheartening to note that our youth today  no longer have confidence in education as a means  of attaining success. It  is a sign of compromise  of the future, it gives a clear  picture  of what the future portends and I feel  for  this country”. However Rivers State has a chance to obviate  this inglorious  path.  With the level  of commitment of the Government  to the  development of the education sector, there is hope of consolidation of the future of the  state.

But an indepth commitment  to the development of public libraries will no doubt serve as an elixir to conducive learning and sustained reading culture. Thus the State Library Board should be made to be an integral part of the now revitalised  annual  book carnival. The festival of books intended to sustain reading culture in the state should also be domesticated in the  LGAs, through functional use of libraries. This initiative will also help in eroding  boredom, the  chronic disease  of the age to which  most of our youths  has fallen victims.