Cassava Republic author, Fatima Akilu visited Hillside School in Abuja last week as part of an innovative campaign challenging young Nigerians to read more books.

The challenge is to read 100 books in 365 days, averaging 2 books a week, beginning 1^st June 2011. Participating pupils from Hillside School got the opportunity to ask Fatima about her popular, illustrated children’s books. The school’s student council presented a donation raised through a fundraising evening, to RAW.

Student Council present their donation to RAW

“The 100-Book Challenge is a unique reading campaign, not only for reviving what was once a country filled with ideas, interest and creativity, but also to put good books on the shelves of public schools through donations from publishers, authors and corporate bodies,” said Akilu, “the programme is already yielding results.” Pupils at Hillside have taken up the Challenge with enthusiasm with some pupils having read 50 books.

The Challenge encourages parents and guardians to get involved in their children’s reading. Individuals and schools with the highest readership will be publicly recognized for their efforts.

Akilu said that even among those children who could read, there was often little access to books, causing a decline in a nation’s reading culture. “The 100-book (challenge) really began as a result of visiting schools and talking to children and listening to their yearning,” said Akilu adding that, “Nigerian children want to read but there are no books that are easily accessible to them.”

The challenge, which is being run by Akilu and a team of student volunteers, hopes to get publishers to make books available at a reasonable discount. It also asks individuals to donate N50,000, which will buy 100 books that will be placed in public schools to help them start mini libraries.

“We have received tremendous interest in the project and children who don’t usually read are now reading and keeping track of the books they read. We hope that by next year we will be able to expand this project across all states,” she said.

Fatima Akilu is the programme’s coordinator and Chairman of the Editorial Board of Leadership Newspaper. She is the author of eight children’s books written to illustrate the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals, including Timi’s Dream Comes True, The Yellow Mosquito Net and Preye and the Sea of Plastic are published by Cassava Republic Press and available at www.cassavarepublic.biz.

Whilst taking part in the 100-Book Challenge, children have been assured that they will receive encouragement at each stage. Participating schools will receive help on keeping a log of how many books the whole school is reading. Schools will receive visits from authors and celebrities similar to the event held at Hillside School. Young readers can sign up for the programme at their school or local library, or they can also sign up by emailing either allanwoods@leadership.ng, or allanwoods01@gmail.com.

RAW Nigeria