Reading Culture In Nigeria reduced by the Internet – Police IG
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, has said that the advent of Internet has drastically reduced the reading culture of the people.
Abubakar stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a programme organised by United Bank for Africa (UBA), entitled, ‘Read Africa Project,’ and the commissioning of the ultra-modern office complex of the new Directorate of Police Education complex.
The police boss regretted that rather than reading books, Nigerians, especially students, prefer to play internet games, toy with their Blackberry phones, and other internet devices.
He said: “Ranging from schooling children, even working and retired adults, only very few find it very convenient to pick up a book and read. Rather than reading, people engage more in playing games, watching movies and engaging in other activities that do not impact directly on development of intelligence in human beings.”
While encouraging children, teachers, police officers and men, and all adults to retrace their steps and go back to the culture of reading, Abubakar insisted that just as reading to pass examination is important to schooling children, reading for pleasure is equally important to adults if the brain must be busy and refreshed at all time and be put to use for a much better society.
“Right from when a child recognises that he can read, he should continue reading till he can read no more. This is highly beneficial as reading is part of learning and learning itself is for life. Life is a teacher, the more we live, the more we learn. As long as we are still living, we must continue to read. This is so because your challenges in life become diversified and the experience used in tackling the problems today may be outdated tomorrow,” IGP said.
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