On April 24 at 4p.m. at the American Corner, NSIAC, beside Booksellers, Jericho Ibadan, Oyo State, Laipo Mobile Library will hold a book drive event.
Open to the book loving public, the brain behind the initiative, the award winning writer and teacher, Ayodele Olofintuade, said the project is dedicated to providing library services to students in Ibadan metropolis and getting them interested in reading outside of academia.
“I started this project with a few volunteers in 2010. The idea for the project came about when I had the opportunity to go round schools on a book reading project and discovered that most children of school age have never been to a library before or have any interest in reading outside of academia. This problem arose due to economic reasons since parents cannot afford to buy books for their children and the decline in Nigeria’s education system,” she said.
In 2011, Olofintuade explained, Mosuro the Booksellers sponsored a read-a-thon for three months taking the project to over 30 schools in Ibadan. Since that first read-a-thon the project has been carried out consistently in over 10 schools and has catered to over 800 children, who have had access to books in their schools and during the project’s holiday reading programmes.
“I have personally witnessed a change in the attitude of these children to reading,” Olofintuade stated who depends on the goodwill of people that donate books and money to the project, explained.
Laipo Mobile Library has been sponsored over the years by book lovers like Ikhide Ikheloa, Abimbola Adelakun, Chika Unigwe, Myne Whitman and Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, to mention a few.
Born in Ibadan in the early 70’s, Olofintuade spent her holidays with her grandfather who lived a stone’s throw from Olumo Rock. He nurtured her young mind by making her read Yoruba classics like ‘Ireke Onibudo’, ‘Irinkerindo ninu Igbo Elegbeje’, ‘Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irumole’ to him. She read Mass Communication at the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu.
