Udoka Nwaehike is a graphics designer and printer. He is alo an events planner. He was just begining activities for the year after his yearly vacation in February when he heard the news that governmnet has locked down the country because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
What has been the state of libraries? When will they ever be open to the public in this era of partial lockdown? If, in spite of the challenges, good content gets packaged into books, where is the financial capacity to take them to printers who publish them to physical copies Nigerian end-users largely prefer? Even, when the books are printed, what is the state of the booksellers, who by default, should showcase these books and get them delivered to the readers? Or better still, are the readers...
Speaking to The Guardian ahead of the Nigeria Virtual Book Fair 2020, which is slated to hold between September 1, and 7, 2020, Gbadega Adedapo, President, Nigerian Publishers Association and Chairman – Nigerian Book Fair Trust, said helping the book industry’s value chain to bounce back as soon as possible is synonymous with sustaining education and literacy.
While saying that the book industry remains the major driver of education and literacy in Nigeria, he called on government to help the industry, which he said, has lost over 10 billion Naira, through palliative measures. This could be done with dedicated grants and accessible funds that would aid the industry in its effort on product development and supply engagement.
However, Omoluabi does not think the government can do anything at this time, since it did not, in the past. “This is an industry that government has overlooked and has not shown any interest in.” For Servio Gbadamosi of Winepress Limited, “from the announcement of the first coronavirus case in Nigeria, we already began to feel the impact of the pandemic on the book publishing industry. The printing presses were adjusting to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a publisher like myself had to adjust to the demands of the times.