Group blames absence of functional library centers in Delta on sabotage by students

 A Non-Governmental Organization, NGO, on Education “Set for Excellence” in Asaba, Delta State has blamed the absence of functional library centers across the State on alleged sabotage by students in their desire to study, Our Delta North Correspondent reports. 

The group in a press statement issued on Friday, and signed by its President, Comrade Biose Andrew, a copy made available to our reporter described the absence of functional library centers in the state as academic gutters” and absurdity, and chided the state government’s nonchalant act towards a resuscitating poor reading culture of students. 

Noting that library centers across Delta State had renamed shadow of itself, the statement frowned at the Asaba Library Center’s poor condition without books and decayed infrastructure, adding that in the past ten years it had remained an eye sore where marabous allegedly use to execute nefarious activities as well as hide under the guise of reading for examinations. 

Part of the statement reads: “We condemn in all shares the poor library centers across the state, especially in Agbor, Asaba, Sapele and Ughelli, the present situation of these libraries portend shame on the part of the present government, Delta State governments have been insensitive to providing good library centers for students”. 

The statement also alleged extortion by staffers of the Asaba Library Center, adding that often times, skeletal services of the moribund library subject anxious students who want to read to payment of N50.00 each; an allegation one of the staff who did not want her name in the print, said was spurious and unfounded. 

But some of the students who spoke to our reporter, one of them, David Igbokwe lamented the poor condition of Asaba Library Center without Modern Books and conducive environment. He said, “Asaba Library Center is a shame, dust everywhere, no books, even the few books are very old, no chairs to sit at all, very poor, government should look unto the act”. 

It was gathered that several efforts by some philanthropists in Asaba and Agbor to donate books and rebuild the centers and met brick walls when those (names withheld) at the corridor of power allegedly frustrated their efforts. 

A philanthropist, Ogbueshi Kenneth Adukwe who spoke to our reporter said his efforts to rebuild Asaba Library Center met a brick in the last administration when a close pal of the Ex-Governor thwarted his efforts. 

His words, “I think the successive governments in the State have been insensitive to the need to have a standard library in Asaba and other parts of the state, all it does is diverting funds into frivolous projects”. 

A parent, Ogbueshi Francis Onode told Our Correspondent that moribund libraries across the State had contributed to mass failure of students in the recent times in the State, adding, “Okowa need to rebuild libraries, he should also provide books for students that will stop them from going to “Miracle Centers outside the State”. 

Officials of the State Ministries of Education (Secondary and Basic, Higher Education) who did not want their names in print blamed the current poor library centers to government’s insensitivity, adding, “we have written several memos to no avail”. 

But in a swift reaction, the State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Barr. Chiedu Ebie said the poor library centers were unfortunates, assuring that Okowa led administration was working out modalities for standard libraries in the State. 

Expectedly, concepts such as e-learning, e-governance,, e-library, e-lending, cloud computing have occupied the center stage in global discourse. The current trend is deploy ICTs in sourcing and dissemination of information. 

There will be no functional education system without state-of-the-art libraries and no informed citizenry without access to organized information. According to experts, information is a vital resource and people need information for all round development. 

Today, information is the currency of business and technologies have changed the way people live. The questions are: Where is the place of the librarian in all these? How much of these new technologies have Nigerian libraries deployed for the benefit of their users? Have Nigerian libraries taken full advantage of the concept of libraries without borders? Has the country been able to reposition its community, public and school libraries to serve as public access avenues with a view to turning them into one-stop-shops for information and knowledge? As information managers, the society looks up to librarians for quick, current and quality information that is useful in addressing challenges and meeting their needs, even during periods of emergency. 

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu describes information managers as indispensable in any policy formulation and decision making. For him, libraries play vital role in sustainable development in terms of access to information, as the key focus of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is on access to information. 

In an interview, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on library matters, Mr. Ambrose Okakwu said the state government was committed towards sustainable library development in the state, adding library and information services are key factors to sustainable development goals. 

His words: “Okowa led administration is very passionate about Education, therefore the need for sustainable library development is important, information is power and also brings people together for the betterment, Okowa appreciates the importance of library in the pursuit of academic excellence, we want people to donate books to the library centers in the State”.

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