Photo credit: PM News
Like you must have seen in the resulting posts, I was in Lagos on Thursday to source for free books from donors. I don’t want to belabour you with the details. I believe they could be found in a previous post.
All the three people that I met on that day did me a great favour. Donating even just a book in the Nigeria of today is no mean feat.
But the focus of my write up is CRIMMD owned by Dr Raphael James. His preoccupation is just service to humanity.
Apart from the free library which he stocks regularly, he donates tens of thousands of books to libraries every year. He runs free training in fashion designing. And what’s more, he also runs free music training for the youth.
He also has a gallery of all those that matter in this country. I make it bold to say that if your picture is not in that gallery, then you are a nobody, just like me.
I believe his is a great heritage for Idimu where his library is located, for Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.
However, how have our governments treated this great soul? I am so sad to say our governments have treated this man like an outcast.
He has been received by the various levels of government at various times. In many cases, he met a stonewall. In others, promises were made. Maybe those promises will be fulfilled tomorrow.
When I saw the array of books in the library not to mention those that he gives away, I was nonplussed. There are the free music and fashion design classes.
I think this man should be in charge of our national library, that is if it still exists. If not, I pray that God would visit our leaders’ hearts so that we don’t miss this opportunity.
I happen to be a member of several writing groups. Most of them are based in the Western world anyway. There you could ask the most stupid of questions, as long as you don’t go against the rules of the group, nobody cares a hoot.
What about writing contests? I’m not saying there are no writing contests in Nigeria. However, for each writing contest that exists in this country, there would be about a hundred in Europe and America.
It’s not as if our leaders don’t know what is right. But as long as we remain a docile people, they will continue to take us for granted.
On a lighter mood, in my days as a student, so many couples met in the library. Of course, one thing led to the other, and they became husbands and wives.
While the proprietor has not asked me to do this, at
the same time I am pleading with our leaders to do something about his great ideas.
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