Mariam Ken Saro-Wiwa, Wife of slained minority rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, says Nigeria’s president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had been a supporter of her late husband, Ken Saro-Wiwa. She made this assertion in Yenagoa during the “Bring Back the Book” campaign, a pet project of the President to build the reading culture in Nigeria.
Mrs Saro-Wiwa said her husband, activist and author, Ken Saro-Wiwa was a great lover of books and a voracious reader. She said the future of Nigeria would depend on how much is invested in education otherwise she would lag behind among nations that appreciate the value of books.
She noted, “My husband was a man of ideas who wanted Nigeria to achieve her full potential. I welcome this initiative with pleasure. Saro-Wiwa would have been happy with this idea. I commend President Jonathan, who has been a supporter of Saro-Wiwa and the state governor, Seriakie Dickson.”
Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Nwike, who represented the president said, “The initiative was conceived as a citizen’s framework after much consultation. It was in response to lingering concerns over the flagging reading culture in our country, and the general apathy to books, especially among the youth, who represent our collective futures. To arrest the slide and give a boost to our development and advancement as a nation, the flag-off witnessed a high participation of children, as our Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and I read to over 400 school children”.
Source: OgoniNews
