on book Salesmanship,Professor Ogunseye: Getting Nigerians reading again
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
Salesmanship, Professor Adetoun Ogunseye:Getting Nigerians Reading again by Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth,London,UK september 3 2022
Two salesmen were sent to Nigeria from London.the first filed back to the london headquarters: the following message: “ Nigerians do not read therefore there is no market for books in Nigeria”
The second salesman filed back: “Nigerians do not read therefore there is a huge market for books in Nigeria
Let's take another one :three men were found on a construction site. The first man said I am digging a hole, the second man said: I am t putting up a pillar and the third said I am building a Cathedral.each of the three men were doing exactly the same job but they all saw things differently. What are you out to do / digging a hole, putting up a pillar or building a cathedral? Look for books that address the crisis in Nigeria, On The Yoruba , Education crisis,Energy crisis y and security/ security crisis etc.
Its a collective responsibility.we should all be reading together,not just Wole Soyinka or Pat Utomi et al. solutions originate in discussion but you have to read to make meaningful contribution during discussion, reach out to the parents teacher association, local, state, and National. Its game of numbers,you should be able to handle rejection.Rejection is about life.
Do not stay at home saying there are no jobs.find out what's happening in the Nearest Book publishing House.Its a game of numbers.in the age of smartphones and Social networking sites and blogging etc there are so many things that can be achieved,
First you know that the purchasing power is there in Nigeria.The money is there in the hands of Nigerians either at home or in the Diaspora otherwise they would not be spending 500 billion naira on one telecommunications company.otherwise they would not be importing building accessories from 100 countries! Bathroom,Toilet,Sink and stuff like that statistics shows that 19 million Nigerians can afford to build houses costing 20 million naira via a flexible payment plan.thanks to a property visionary Babajide Odusolu.
. read the property pages and you know the purchasing power exists!.then there are Nigerians 15 million of them who send home close to 28 billion dollars every year! Then for cultural affinity you can explore the African american market.there are a group of people called Afriicana Librarians,find out about them. In 2020 the buying power of African Americans was put at 1.6 trillion dollars!.so you might want to go into exporting african books and periodicals.you never know. Checkout nigerian export promotion council. The yorubas for instance are organized in 176 countries.
I am inspired by the example of 95 year old, Mama Professor Adetoun Ogunseye Nigeria's first woman Professor,,who has just had her Book on ASO OKE published by Mr . Musoro.
I have had the good fortune of working under Professor Ogunseye as a volunteer science club leader and coordinator, at the Abadina Media resource centre university of Ibadan of which she was Co founder and Director.
I remember vividly in 1986 she affirmed that the only difference between the Nigerian child and his counterpart in the “advance world$” is” one of exposure'' .Professor Ogunseye served as first President of the international board of books for the young,Nigeria Chapter
You could also become a VOLUNTEER, instead of staying at home then you put it on YOUR CV as REAL WORK EXPERIENCE,. Only last week Systems spec came up with their fundAcause a platform for Non Profit fundraising this is something for VOLUNTEERS today it could serve as a saving grace for IBBY ,Nigeria chapter
There is a related organisation, tagged THE CHILDREN'S LITERATURE ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA was founded by mabel segun referred to as the matriarch of Children's literature. I have also had the good fortune of learning from her now 90 plus she impressed on me the difference between a library and a library complex and then marched me out of her sitting room! She was a classmate too Chinua achebe and Bola Ige revealed she used to score the same marks like Chinua achebe.she collects Dictionaries. She is the author of amongst works, the famed my Fa
Tunde Oloro
S e n t f r o m M a i l f o r W i n d o w s
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L e t ' s t a k e a n o t h e r o n e : t h r e e m e n w e r e f o u n d o n a c o n s t r u c t i o n s i t e . T h e f i r s t m a n s a i d I a m d i g g i n g a h o l e , t h e s e c o n d m a n s a i d : I a m t p u t t i n g u p a p i l l a r a n d t h e t h i r d s a i d I a m b u i l d i n g a C a t h e d r a l . e a c h o f t h e t h r e e m e n w e r e d o i n g e x a c t l y t h e s a m e j o b b u t t h e y a l l s a w t h i n g s d i f f e r e n t l y . W h a t a r e y o u o u t t o d o / d i g g i n g a h o l e , p u t t i n g u p a p i l l a r o r b u i l d i n g a c a t h e d r a l ? L o o k f o r b o o k s t h a t a d d r e s s t h e c r i s i s i n N i g e r i a , O n T h e Y o r u b a , E d u c a t i o n c r i s i s , E n e r g y c r i s i s y a n d s e c u r i t y / s e c u r i t y c r i s i s e t c .
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F i r s t y o u k n o w t h a t t h e p u r c h a s i n g p o w e r i s t h e r e i n N i g e r i a . T h e m o n e y i s t h e r e i n t h e h a n d s o f N i g e r i a n s e i t h e r a t h o m e o r i n t h e D i a s p o r a o t h e r w i s e t h e y w o u l d n o t b e s p e n d i n g 5 0 0 b i l l i o n n a i r a o n o n e t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s c o m p a n y . o t h e r w i s e t h e y w o u l d n o t b e i m p o r t i n g b u i l d i n g a c c e s s o r i e s f r o m 1 0 0 c o u n t r i e s ! B a t h r o o m , T o i l e t , S i n k a n d s t u f f l i k e t h a t s t a t i s t i c s s h o w s t h a t 1 9 m i l l i o n N i g e r i a n s c a n a f f o r d t o b u i l d h o u s e s c o s t i n g 2 0 m i l l i o n n a i r a v i a a f l e x i b l e p a y m e n t p l a n . t h a n k s t o a p r o p e r t y v i s i o n a r y B a b a j i d e O d u s o l u .
. r e a d t h e p r o p e r t y p a g e s a n d y o u k n o w t h e p u r c h a s i n g p o w e r e x i s t s ! . t h e n t h e r e a r e N i g e r i a n s 1 5 m i l l i o n o f t h e m w h o s e n d h o m e c l o s e t o 2 8 b i l l i o n d o l l a r s e v e r y y e a r ! T h e n f o r c u l t u r a l a f f i n i t y y o u c a n e x p l o r e t h e A f r i c a n a m e r i c a n m a r k e t . t h e r e a r e a g r o u p o f p e o p l e c a l l e d A f r i i c a n a L i b r a r i a n s , f i n d o u t a b o u t t h e m . I n 2 0 2 0 t h e b u y i n g p o w e r o f A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s w a s p u t a t 1 . 6 t r i l l i o n d o l l a r s ! . s o y o u m i g h t w a n t t o g o i n t o e x p o r t i n g a f r i c a n b o o k s a n d p e r i o d i c a l s . y o u n e v e r k n o w . C h e c k o u t n i g e r i a n e x p o r t p r o m o t i o n c o u n c i l . T h e y o r u b a s f o r i n s t a n c e a r e o r g a n i z e d i n 1 7 6 c o u n t r i e s .
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