A non-governmental organisation, Yeshua’s Arm, has expressed concern over the declining reading culture among Nigerian children, blaming the trend on increasing social media consumption and poor access to books.
The organisation raised the concern during the commissioning of a library at St Theresa School, Epe, Lagos State, as part of its literacy intervention project carried out in partnership with Dow Chemical Company.
Speaking at the event, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mrs Kemi Williams, said many children now spend more time on social media than engaging in meaningful reading activities.
“It’s been really poor, and it’s getting worse because of social media. Everybody is just watching skits and spending time online,” she said.
Williams noted that the growing decline in reading habits among children informed the organisation’s decision to establish libraries and expand mobile library services across schools and communities.
According to her, the initiative is aimed at improving literacy, reading culture and critical thinking among pupils by increasing access to books and learning materials.
“We’re very excited about it because altogether we’re reaching over 2,000 children, creating libraries for them, something they’ve not had in their schools before,” she said.
Williams explained that the libraries were designed not only to provide books but also to encourage independent learning and cognitive development among pupils.
“It’s an opportunity for them to develop their reading skills, their critical thinking skills,” she said.
“It’s good to learn to read, but you also read to learn.”
She added that improving access to books would help transform classroom learning outcomes and strengthen the quality of education nationwide.
“We believe in quality education for every child because we know it’s going to raise the bar for every child, every Nigerian child, and help our nation thrive,” she said.
Williams stressed that Nigeria’s greatest resource remains its human capital, urging greater investment in education and literacy development.
“Our most important resource in Nigeria is not oil; it is our people, it is our children,” she said.
“We need to change the narrative and invest in reading and education.”
She said the organisation was working closely with schools to ensure the sustainability of the project through continuous literacy support.
“We’re not doing this and leaving it. We provide ongoing support,” she said.
“We have literacy support staff who work with the children and teachers, helping them integrate reading into their curriculum.”
Williams further disclosed that the organisation had already introduced mobile libraries in several schools, allowing pupils to borrow books regularly.
“We already have a mobile library that comes in fortnightly, brings books, and the children take books home. They love it,” she said.
According to her, the organisation has impacted between 20 and 30 schools through its mobile library programme and established about 10 permanent libraries so far.
“We have about 1,500 books in this library. A lot of them are imported, and we’ve also sourced from Nigerian authors,” she said.
“All the books are carefully checked to ensure they are suitable for children.”
Also speaking, Site Implementation Leader for Global African Affinity Network, Dow Industrial Chemical Products Nigeria Limited, Toby-Lade Valmon, said the company was committed to improving access to educational infrastructure and opportunities for children.
“For us, this is more than just corporate social responsibility. We are trying to create what we call a sustainable community. Sustainability goes beyond finance or environment; it includes building leaders for tomorrow and helping our children grow educationally,” he said.
“What we are basically doing here is contributing to seeing how we can get our young ones prepared to become leaders of tomorrow.”
Valmon noted that the current phase of the initiative includes the rollout of multiple school libraries within the Epe Local Government Area.
“For this week, we are looking at four libraries that will be commissioned in Epe Local Government,” he said.
The NGO, currently based in Lagos State, said it hopes to expand the library and literacy programme to other parts of the country as partnerships and resources grow.
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