Omisore, described the output of a larger locally churned out books and publications in the country today as awful, as he unveils what he considers to be a solution to such mediocrity. “We don’t have so many bookshops stocked with great materials, a pointer to the low reading culture in our society,” Omisore reasoned.
“Worse still, check the few leading bookshops around, you don’t find so many books by Nigerian authors and publishers. No offense meant by the bookshop owners, it only shows that Nigerian authors and publishers need to up their game. It means your book can’t just be accepted unless you have done your homework well, with some level of good writing, graphical representation and packaging,” he added.
According to Omisore, though there are varying factors against reading in the country, most of which are associated with the prevailing economic situation, there is one that shouldn’t be blamed on the economy, which is poor quality writing. He said even if the economy eventually improves significantly, if most writers would not give due diligence to their art, writers would still be behind generally in reading and learning. “With bad writing, an average reader will have problems with assimilation, which will eventually lead to a disconnect with reading. Once that condition prevails over a period of time, another book hater is born, ready to infiltrate his circle of influence with his aversion for reading and writing,” Omisore explained, adding that it is a trend that captures the downward spiral of education in the country.
In any media-related field for instance, Omisore believes there is need for content, which is first prepared as draft, script or copy, and the one with the best content will be the king. According to him, the absence of this is why most of leading bookshops are filled with better-packaged foreign paperbacks and most people will subscribe to a foreign-based cable TV instead of the locally based ones despite higher rates. “You really can’t blame people, if you have a choice, you go for what you perceive as great content and package.
“There are some publications I personally can’t sit down to read,” Omisore continued, “even news publications. I just can’t find my way round the content because it is washout. Continuing reading such day in day out will make a dunce of anyone. Sometimes, I see some vendors hawking some locally made current affairs books at bus stops. Without being so critical of these people’s attempt at making money, I will say they are doing more havoc than good with the low quality they are serving the public with. Why?
“Apart from the ills of grammatical and contextual errors that usually riddle their publications, such books lack concept, structure and rhythm that make for a good read. So, at best, readers get the right information, but have the wrong experience, one that takes them further away from appreciating a well composed written communication, to their disadvantage,” he said.
Proffering solution to poor reading and writing in the education sector, Omisore said the focus should not be on the government alone but all stakeholders in education, which includes the students, teachers and parents, authors and publishers, ministry of education and government. “Some Asian countries that seem to have more responsive government than ours due to the turnaround in their economy, lately still can’t boast of the same level of reading as the western world because the other stakeholders must also play their part. Infrastructures and the enabling environment government supplies do not automatically translate to a great reading culture. It is a lot better if the infrastructures are there, but if it is a culture problem, then it is first of all a people problem of wrong attitude and perception. We say the same for maintenance culture, which is also quite low around here, yet existing infrastructures are still not being well maintained.”
With the situation Nigerians have found themselves, if there is ever going to be a change, Omisore said it must be in form of a “revolution”, a long-term proactive campaign that will carry along all stakeholders, making them actively involved in the course for the desired change. “Students (that covers all of us really because we are all learning) can take it upon themselves to carry out simple, but diligent acts like improving their vocabulary, one new word or expression per day. Parents and teachers, who play a pivotal role in the formative years of children, should teach and model the essence of reading quality materials to the young ones in their care. Authors and publishers should benchmark on bestselling books in their area of specialty and come up with a good theme and structure for their books. The Ministry of Education as a control should ensure all academic textbooks used in both public and private schools pass the test of ‘Essence and Concept.’ And the government, to create an enabling environment for all these to work, should launch a visible and pragmatic campaign on learning and education championed by the executive head of government himself,” Omisore said.
Edistyle has been working with some educationists to research into the background and peculiar challenges facing education in different geographical locations in the country in order to build a campaign that can help overcome certain non-infrastructural challenges from one region to another and thereby strongly aid people’s inherent capacity for learning and development.
“It is a campaign of minimum of two years that will keep appealing to the distinctive parts of the stakeholders’ spectrum, awakening and sustaining a self consciousness of our individual and collective potential if we all pay attention to learning,” he affirmed.
Omisore’s assertions became more profound in the light of what he terms quality content in a book or publication. According to him, all written contents must have two vital aspects, which are essence and concept, and the marriage of these two is necessary if a masterpiece is ever going to be achieved in writing. In a layman’s interpretation, essence speaks of the message and import (with its varied points) the writer wants to pass across, and concept is the way and manner such import is showcased.
“It is like frosting or icing a cake,” Omisore explained. “The cake itself is the real stuff but it looks bare and uninteresting without the icing. The decorative frosting, more than anything, makes the cake look so appealing that everyone will want to have a bite. That is what concept will do to your writing, and it doesn’t have to be something out of this world – doesn’t and mustn’t take anything away from your essence – but whatever it is, it has to be well embellished.”
To buttress the core importance of the blend of these two elements, Omisore said: “A publication without an essence well driven will be ‘meaningless,’ no matter how fanciful the writing is crafted.
One with a strong essence but not well showcased by a concept will be ‘colorless.” He believes the latter is where most writers and authors are found wanting, rather than the former. “I will score most writers and authors around here at least three over five that they have a good idea of what they are writing about but I will only score a few anything above one over five regarding whether they can actually showcase their good essence in an appealing and reader friendly way.
Omisore personally engages himself in written works of different genres based on interest and choice. “As a pastor, I write on faith. As a sports enthusiast, I have a sports website. As a poet, an anthology titled “Sound of Destiny” will be published this year. And the manuscript for my first fiction novel has been completed since 2004.”
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