I am driving the founding of book clubs in Akwa Ibom State to have sit-outs for reading, not just for beer and pepper-soup

I am Udeme Nana. 

I am from Mbiabong in Ini Local Government of Akwa Ibom State. 

Born on 12 April 1965, I was bred in Calabar, Cross River State. 

I attended Methodist Primary School, Ikang (1971-1976), St Patrick’s College, Calabar (1976-1981) and School of Basic Studies, Akampka (1984-1985) – to remedy my poor grades in school certificate examination.

I originally wanted to pursue a career in the literary arts, but I ended up going for mass communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), from 1986 to 1990, as I thought that it was a professional course which would give me a wider reach as you can migrate to diverse fields such as journalism, public relations and advertising.

From childhood, I had dreamt of being a writer. I liked solitude, watching open spaces, the stars at night and trying to paint pictures in my imagination. 

While in secondary school, I wrote poems which were usually read in the assembly hall. Our then Literature-in-English teacher, Mr Aglais Joseph, an Indian, usually reviewed them for me.

As we were not exposed to competitions in secondary school, I compiled the poems and sent the collection, with a covering letter, to the then State Commissioner for Education, Dr (later Prof) Efana James Usua. He sent them to a publishing house in Ibadan for possible publication. Nothing came out of it, however. 

I have since then had a book published. Titled The Age of Vidiots, it was published in 2005 by Roberto Communications, Uyo, and it enjoyed rave reviews in the media

While in secondary school, with motivation from my mentor, Mr (later Prof) Ime Ikidde of the University of Calabar, a literary critic, who allowed me the use of his library, I had unhindered access to many books.

I also read all the available books in the African Writers’ Series as my father gave me the opportunity to buy. 

In university, even as I got involved in departmental politics – at UNN, I became president of the Mass Communication students’ association, and later emerged the national president of the association  - I was more interested in writing. 

I did not like the technicalities of newspaper production, I just liked to write.

After my one-year national youth service at Flour Mills of Nigeria in Maiduguri, I came back to Uyo, worked with a management consulting firm and later joined the Pioneer, the Akwa Ibom State-owned newspaper, as a features writer.

Sometime in 1994, while at the Pioneer, I received a strange visitor who introduced himself as Dr Joe Akpabio, and head of department of mass communication at the state polytechnic and said that they had been looking for me to come and lecture. That was how I left to join the academia, teaching, among others, features writing, news writing, editorial writing and critical writing. I had to later return to UNN and got an MBA in marketing and obtained masters and doctorate degrees in mass communication from the University of Uyo. 

In 1999, I was tapped by the newly elected governor of the state, Obong Victor Attah, to serve as the director of Media Affairs. So, I had to take a leave of absence from the polytechnic, and I have returned there since I finished serving the government for eight years, and an extra year as senior special adviser to Obong Attah’s successor, Godswill Akpabio. 

Forward to 2015. One evening, I was taking a walk around the Akwa Ima estate where I live and I was shocked that at every turn, there were bars, eateries and what they call sit-outs, with music in the background.  I pondered: is it the dominant culture in this area? Because what you have there is replicated in many other places in this town. My reaction was: Wow. I am not inclined to this kind of life, so why not start something that I am passionate about and call young people who might think like me to also sit-out and read books, and we have discussions and all that.  

So, I called  a few young people who were close to me and floated the idea. They like it.

On 17 October 2015, we had our own "sit-out" in my house we read and discussed books until we were tired. Fortunately, I have a large library, so there were enough books we could read from. I have Borono Bassey to thank for helping to invite the at least twelve young people, among them students, fresh graduates and journalists, who gathered in my house from about 3pm that day. 

That was the background to the founding of the Uyo Book Club which now has no fewer than two hundred and fifty members, drawn from everywhere. It is an open, all-comers’ affair. 

Since 2019, we have been meeting every last Saturday of the month inside the Waitbridge Hotels and Suites, with the kind courtesy of its owner, Rt Hon. Ekong Sampson, who has a PhD in law and is a passionate book lover. There is also a bookseller, Mr Ekom Henry Itauma, who donated eighty copies of various books to the club. 

In September 2021, the club hosted the 1st Network of Book Clubs and Reading Conference, here in Uyo. 

We now have two additional book clubs, outside of Uyo, because not everyone can come to Uyo.

The Raffia City Book Club was inaugurated on 8 May 2021 at the Tony Esu Centre, Ephraim Essien Street, GRA, Ikot Ekpene, with Abom Tony Esu as patron and Utitofonidara Akpan and Hanson Uko as coordinators. 

The Eket Book Club was founded on 14 August 2021, with Hon. Barr Eseme Eyibo as patron and Nsibiet John and Ndueso Young as coordinators.

With time, we should be in Oron. 

Together, we shall stimulate the love for books and create communities of readers. We want Akwa Ibom to get reading again. 

Indeed, I see this as my own revolution. I see that one way to recreate our society is to get into the minds of people through exposure to knowledge. When people read, and widely too, there is the tendency for them to imbibe certain values and principles that will help them. When people read books, their sensibilities will become refined. When you have such people in large numbers, it would be easier to have them become good followers and better leaders.

So, this revolution is to, ultimately, make Nigeria a better society, one State at a time, starting from Akwa Ibom State. 

I have a dream of a Book City or Village in Uyo – a one-stop place for a library, authors, booksellers, publishers, book clubs and everyone and everything associated with books and reading. Just the same way you have a Computer Village in Lagos and all those mechanic villages for auto technicians. 

Put in a few words, this revolution is to raise a new generation of people with refined minds.

Many thanks to XL FM 106.9 Uyo for local support in Akwa Ibom State. Please visit https://xl1069.fm for an enriching radio experience.