| The Daily Crucible | Saturday, September 24, 2022
By Kola Adepoju
One of the unique attributes of the outgoing Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof Felix Kolawole Salako is that he is a voracious reader.
The Lion in Salako, a distinguished product of University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) naturally roars devouring books with famished appetite and gusto typical of indomie loving teens in his quest to know more about virtually every facet of life in the ambit and ambience of humanities.
Relations, associates, staff and friends of the Professor of Soil Physics often wonder how the Vice Chancellor find time to read avalanche of books religiously and commitedly despite his usual tight schedule.
Given his die-hard love for reading,one will understand why Prof.Salako is deeply touched by the fading culture of reading among our teeming youths, especially at various levels and tiers of schooling, and as such has been at the vanguard of advocacy for urgency to reverse the downward trend, in order to restore normalcy to the education sector.
This explains why immediately the renowned Nobel Laureate and Honorary Doctorate Degree Awardee of the University, Prof. Wole Soyinka ceeded his Ijegba Forestage to FUNAAB, to promote art and culture, as well as other related disciplines.
The Vice Chancellor took advantage of the endowment and swung into action immediately.Expectedly, the first thing that came to the mind of Prof.Salako is to float a programme that will encourage reading culture among students.
He immediately directed the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof.Obiora Ikeobi and the University Librarian, Prof. Fehintola Onifade and other relevant staff of the University to as a matter of urgency set the much needed machinery in motion for the actualisation of his dream.
The efforts paid off last Wednesday September 21, 2022 with the birth and hosting of the maiden edition of a 3-Day Reading Hour Section, held at Prof.Wole Soyinka Ijegba Forestage,Abeokuta,Ogun State.
Participants or readers who turned out smartly in their beautiful uniforms and led to the venue by their teachers were drawn from secondary schools in the state while the presence of the Director General of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA) who like Salako addressed the students, admonishing them to imbibe and sustain the culture of reading boosted the morales of the future leaders.
Guess whose book was read at the event? Let me bail you out! It was the book of Kongi himself; mind you it is not The Interpreters,
The Beatification of Area Boys, The Man Died, The Road, Ake, and Season of Anomy, among others but THE TRIAL OF BROTHER JERO.Prof Salako was a delight as he relished the students with flawless narration of The Trial of Brother Jero while the latter took turn to act the characters in the book by reading it commitedly.Barely four weeks to the end of his tenure, Prof.Salako is leaving behind a legacy of reviving reading culture in our society,especially among our youths.
No comments:
Post a Comment