The Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Ogun State chapter, Chief Abiodun Lasile, has commended the Ogun State Government for making Reading a compulsory subject in all public schools across the state, describing the decision as a defining moment in the drive to revive literacy culture.
The development was announced in a press release issued by The SixthSense Initiative, a literacy advocacy group founded by Lasile, which has championed the campaign for improved reading culture for over a decade.
Speaking on the breakthrough, Lasile recounted the journey that began years ago with a clear vision to institutionalise reading as a structured academic subject.
According to him, “Before I started writing in 2015, I had created a path to navigate with a careful conceptualisation of literacy advocacy. I wrote twenty three manuscripts, finalised six titles and published four books within six months.
The four books were presented to the MoEST Evaluation and Curriculum and three books out of four titles were approved for examination and reading.
The success didn’t stop there; SUBEB, UBEC and NERDC recognised the books with different certifications.”
He added that the advocacy formally took shape in 2017 with the launch of the SixthSense Children Reading Competition Programme, followed by the Summer Children Reading Camp and several other initiatives targeted at schools, parents and policy makers.
“Haven conquered a huddle of publications that’s the mirth of being a published author, I launched the literacy advocacy in 2017 with SixthSense Children Reading Competition Programme and Summer Children Reading Camp a year after and many more till date.”
“I had four clear pointers towards the direction to pursue the literacy journey tagged Our Charge; Government, School, Parent and SixthSense.”
“We were focused on our objectives at takeoff without confusion to these society strata. Abinitio, it looked like an onerous task, some academia didn’t believe it but we sustained the advocacy with ten programmes and concepts,” he stated.
Lasile noted that the sustained engagement with critical education stakeholders eventually yielded the desired result, as Reading has now been formally adopted as a subject in Ogun State public schools.
“We pushed hard for over a decade. The unbelievable is now a reality. Reading is now a Subject in our schools in Ogun State,” he declared.
The ANA chairman, who also holds the traditional title of Orunto Baalufe of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta, expressed appreciation to the state government and all partners who supported the literacy campaign over the years.
