MBA BOOK HAWKER SCHEME: WHERE ARE THE TRICYCLES?

By

Isyaku Bala Ibrahim

BOOKS are our silent teachers and their immortal characteristics make them an important ingredient for meaningful development.

Any society that toys with books is toying with its future. So, any serious government will open its arm for the sector to prosper. It is an enterprise that gets people educated and informed.

For too long, the book sector has suffered unforgiveable neglect in our societies. It is a sector that has the ability to touch the lives of people in different ways. Only few state governments in Nigeria have distinguished themselves in this aspect. Niger and Rivers states are good examples here. Without a second thought, Nigerian writers agree that Niger’s support for developing a literate society is unmatched. A recent example is the MBA Book Hawker Scheme. However, as beautiful as the scheme appears, it is already being sabotaged through the withholding of funds due to it to purchase books for hawking.

It is very important to share some of my experiences of the last few weeks when I was on my annual leave in Minna. First, I visited the Dr. Abubakar Imam Library, formerly called Niger State Library, which has suffered total neglect since it was constructed in the 1980s. Though the massive structure was said to have been renovated (painted) two years ago, books are nowhere to be found there. I do not think there are up to 5,000 volumes left on its shelves today. That place is crying for help.

I also visited the Niger State Archive Section near the UK Bello Art Theatre to see if I could lay my hands on some important archival documents. Unfortunately, aside a few newspaper collections from 1976 – 1989, nothing is there.

I particularly want to focus on the recently-established innovation called the Book Hawker Scheme by the Niger State Book Development Agency (NSBDA), which Malam BM Dzukogi, a national literary icon heads as its pioneer Director-General. The project is strategically-established to take the book back to the people. This is a replica of the book scheme during the first republic in the northern part of the country where book borrowing and selling were introduced to the people at a subsidised price to lubricate the Yaki da Jahilici campaign of the Sardauna’s administration. It was a scheme that was very instrumental to the success of that comprehensive educational policy of the regime.

Back to the present, the launch of the Book Hawker Scheme was part of the main programme of the 3rd MBA International Literary Colloquium in Minna, which deliberately coincided with the governor, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu’s 58th birthday anniversary on November 12, 2013, and the two invited Ghanaian professors, Kofi Anyidoho of University of Ghana, and Atukwei Okai, the Secretary General of Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), were full of praises for the scheme and were given the opportunity to declare open the beautifully-designed edifice, which they described as ‘very relevant’ and ‘innovative.’

The philosophy behind this scheme is to get the general public connected or re-connected to the book by taking it to their door-steps with tricycles, all in an effort to create a knowledge-based society. But since the day of the launching, nothing has happened. The people are eagerly looking forward to buying books at subsidised rates, but the tricycles are nowhere to be found.

I, therefore, decided to peep into the NSBDA’s office at F-layout, Minna, in an effort to find out what was happening. I simply discovered that our ‘Book Hawker Project’ had gone to sleep since the very day its umbilical cord was buried.

However, lack of proper taking-off of the scheme is really giving the people, and all book lovers cause for concern. Our people are still wondering why these efforts should be left to suffer. Parents and writers are worried and beginning to ask: Where are the books the scheme claimed would hit their homes after the November 12 presentation? Why are the tricycles not seen traversing the nooks and crannies of Minna City yet?

In the first place, why should the Niger State government trigger peoples’ interest in the scheme and allow same to ‘catch cold’ if it knew it could not fund it?

I sincerely do not have answers to these intriguing questions. However, when I asked the DG, all he could say was that the Ministry for Local Government had refused to release the funds for the smooth take-off of the project.

I am constrained not to believe that the pull-it-down syndrome is not already at work here. The unfortunate thing is that some civil servants and government appointees see administration as part of a business where one is expected to bootlick, brownnose, for any programme to be able to sail through or else you forget it.  These alien bureaucratic tendencies have truncated governance in Nigeria.

It has unfortunately frustrated the all important MBA Book Hawker Scheme. However, Nigerian writers will not sit back and watch those who will do anything to frustrate people-oriented projects have their way. For the avoidance of doubt, Nigerian writers see the NSBDA as a gift by the Chief Servant to enable them flourish in a formidable and institutionalised manner towards the growth of the society. 
The agency and her numerous schemes are far beyond Dzukogi and Professor Yahaya Kuta, even though the project is being driven by their dreams.

The Book Hawker Scheme is a legacy for Nigerian youths who value creativity. Once the project is seen like this by government officials, progress would be achieved faster. And with this, they will be helping the Chief Servant.

Lastly, the book and archive depositories are in a dire state. Though, now that the NSBDA is here, it should be mandated to fix these information centres for the good of the public.

- Nigerian Tribune newspaper, January 1, 2014