CALEB AYANSINA
NIGERIAN Library Association, NLA, weekend, said that the sustenance of the 'Bring the Book Back Project', recently launched by the Federal Government, largely depends on the availability of standard public libraries throughout the country, just as it accused government of indirectly sabotaging its efforts on reading campaign.
The National President of NLA, Prof. Lenrie Aina, who stated this at a media briefing on the Golden Jubilee of the Association in Abuja, noted that NLA was "not satisfied with the development of the public libraries in Nigeria".
The don insisted that "as long as we continue to neglect public libraries, we will continue to witness mass failure of students in our public examinations".
He added: "It has been proved beyond doubt that countries that have well developed public libraries perform better in all areas of human development, and the reverse is the case where public libraries are neglected' as we are currently witnessing in Nigeria.
"We are using this medium to appeal to the Nigerian University Commission, NUC, to direct universities in Nigeria to set aside at least five percent of their budgets, for the development of their libraries, since it is well known that a university library constitutes the heart of a university.
"Therefore, we call on NUC, to re-introduce this policy and make it mandatory and ensure that university librarians are signatories to the account, once it is established".
Vanguard Nigeria