-         In Remembrance of My Grand Father  -

By

Segun T. Dawodu,

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I have always been taught that life is like a race and sometimes part of that race is like a relay race in which one generation passes on the baton on to the next ensuring that each person runs the race to the best of his or her own ability and also ensuring that the baton is never dropped and as a bonus ensuring that one runs the race better than the one from whom one received the baton.

I do believe that most people have one way or the other received such life batons and told to ensure that one runs a good race and ensuring that the baton is passed on to the other. I also do believe that there are families who at a point in time there is someone who is running a huge race and taking care of the possibility that the person that he will be passing the baton to may not not be able to run the race as well. There have been others who instead passed that baton on to someone else outside  the family and hoping that they will do it better.

My first remembrance of my grandfather, Pa Ehinwinarhinwian Dawodu Osagie was at about the age of  four years but became more attuned to his philosophy and pep talks around the age of  five.

By the age of six and already in primary two, I can clearly remember him asking me if I could read the Daily Times newspaper to him and thereafter giving me 3 pence to buy the newspaper daily to read to him. Being an illiterate business man, he had always wanted to read even though years of business dealings had given him the opportunity of speaking the English language and understanding it at least at the pidgin level and also in the process speaking few words of Yoruba. Despite not having a good understanding of what I was reading, I found it a joy just reading to him after school on daily basis. I do remember his reiterating the fact that as a first son of my Dad and his first grandson, I have the onus of ensuring that my education is given all the priorities desired. He then emphasized the need to read all the time.

Later in life (he died when I was 12 years old) when I asked him about his fascination with reading and education, he told him of a story of his first encounter with the educated ones.

He was in Lagos for his business which was not a very common thing for many Benin men then and in the process of some business deals, there were some contractual issues that led to his seeking redress in court of law. He opted for a young lawyer called Alakija(than name I can remember) who represented him successful. He was more fascinated by the way the guy carried himself and his ability to argue his case that after the case ended, his first task was to ensure that my Dad left Benin to come to the west and attend school.

The incessant encouragement for me to read all the time was made easier by virtue of my Dad’s business which was running chains of bookstores. That also gave me the huge opportunity to become a voracious reader and getting access to different books. Later on in life on my first access to the internet in 1994 using a windows laptop, I was so over-excited having access to so many information that I was logged into the internet using my dialed-up modem in London for 24 hours continuously and as there was no separate line then for fax or modem leading to the British Telecom (BT) disconnecting my phone and calling to check if things were fine with my line. My bill that month came to almost 700 British pounds and I have since done a lot of my reading on line.

In later years, I have learnt to read everything that is readable online and offline all in the process of knowledge.  The reiteration of the need to read by my grandfather was in line with being comfortable with reading and understanding of text and his main goal was more of getting me educated almost like the young lawyer that represented him in Lagos many years ago.

He mentioned the advantages of education not just for the sake of it but also in the process of community service. An education that is gained solely for self aggrandizement without its direct benefit to one’s community is never the type of education to be applauded. His friends often chipped in that getting a good education also allows one to imbibe the good behavior that will make one stand out in the society.

This month marks the 37^th year anniversary of my grandfather’s death and the 42^nd of my mother’s. It also marks the 84^th birthday of my Dad’s. This has given me the opportunity to look at that pep talk and prodding into getting into the habit of reading and also taking it further into community activism.

The culture of reading is virtually no longer in existence in Nigeria. Many people graduating from Nigerian universities can barely read and write properly. In primary schools, there are less time spent on reading for many reason including lack of enough teachers, lack of enough reading text books and lack of a library. Outside school hours, parents are not engaged in reading to their children at home and the lack of libraries are also not helping. Even in towns and cities where there are libraries, there are no books to be read in those libraries and neither are books to take out to be read at home.

Talking about newspapers, they are even out of reach of the average salaried civil servant that most people cannot afford to buy and read newspapers any more. At higher level of education, few people have the culture to go to a bookstore and buy a textbook to read not even Mills and Boons any longer more because of the current financial crisis that is not making things better.

A nation that neglects the ability of its citizens to read and write is a nation that is being pushed into darkness. It is imperative that in the light of all bad things happening in Nigeria, that an urgent solution to the problems of reading and writing be found.

Regular session of reading in classrooms need to be enforced. Towards this, adequate reading textbooks should be provided by the government for its students from the primary level to the secondary level at a minimum. Libraries should also be in place with at least one in each local government area and supplied with books. There have been stories of libraries being burglarized and the books stolen. The alternative to this could be Mobile libraries that can be driven to the different schools on a regular basis with opportunities for the kids to go the library, borrow and read books under the supervision of their children.

After growing up reading and telling people that I had the biggest personal library in the world as a kid based on access to the books in my Dad bookstores, I have a addictive propensity towards books. The smell of newness of textbooks gives me a special excitement and huge curiousity to find what is between the covers. Despite my access to the internet for some of the books, I have a huge collection of books on virtually every subject matter on earth that I have one way or the other shown interest from Law, Medicine, Old religion, philosophy, animals, languages to mundane things like D.I.Y for homes, journals etc. I have books on the floor in my library and my bedroom that my wife has placed a permanent ban on all law and medical journals and that I should immediately order the online version or move to a bigger house for the books.

At the end, I do remember that all started with my grandfather and the three pence Daily Times newspaper. I have this feeling that grandpa will be proud that I am keeping the reading flame still burning and I hope that parents out there will do all that is required to encourage their young ones to do the same. I am passing that grandpa’s baton to my daughters who are in the grove with it with the less than 2 year old just mumbling along especially on the three days a week when she is taken to the local library and read to by her Nanny.

Segun T. Dawodu, MD, JD, MBA is the editor and webmaster of dawodu.com.