Nigeria book clubs to hold maiden national conference

The National Book Clubs and Reading Promoters in Nigeria is set to hold its maiden national conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, in September.

The chair of the local organising committee of the conference, Ekong Sampson, who disclosed this on Tuesday in Uyo, said the event is scheduled to take place from September 16 to 18.

“Uyo is ready to host Nigeria,” Mr Sampson, an author of several books, told reporters at a press conference where the conference logo was unveiled to the public.

The conference, to be chaired by a former Nigeria’s ambassador to the Russian Federation and Belarus, Assam Assam, would examine how e-books are affecting public libraries, and the challenges of social readings in Nigeria.

It would feature book reviews, poetry, and a mini book fair.

Participants would have the opportunity to visit two book clubs in the state, one at Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, otherwise known as the Raffia City, and the other at Eket, “the oil city”.

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They would be treated to the rich Akwa Ibom cuisines, the organisers said.

Two Library Science professors, Felicia Etim, the chief librarian, Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, and Ahiaoma Ibegwam, the chief librarian, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have been scheduled as keynote speakers for the conference.

“It’s my privilege to officially unveil this unique and colourful logo signposting Uyo 2021, taking the book to Uyo as a global citizen,” the chair of the local organising committee, Mr Sampson said during the unveiling of the logo.

“Book is a universal citizen that speaks every language and needs no passport to travel to any part of the world,” he said.

The founder of the Uyo Book Club, Udeme Nana, in his remarks, said the club was laying a foundation to make Uyo “the world book city”.

Mr Nana, a communication lecturer, had recently launched a new book club in Eket, bringing to three the number of such clubs in Akwa Ibom.

He said the club was spreading the reading culture to all the cities in the state.

The Speaker of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, Aniekan Bassey, the Commissioners for Information, Ini Ememobong, and the Commissioner for Education, Idongesit Etiebet, were among the dignitaries that witnessed the unveiling of the conference logo.