My illiterate father ignited my reading culture —Mrs Bukola Ladoja

Mrs Bukola Ladoja, wife of the former Governor of Oyo State,Senator Rasheed Ladoja, is the President and Founder, Reading Awareness Society for Development in Africa(RASDA) and an ambassador of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). In this Interview, she speaks on her journey into promoting reading culture in Africa. SEGUN KASALI brings the excerpts.

 

WHO inspired your reading culture?

My father inspired me. Being the first child, he used to tell  me that I must lay good examples for my siblings. He said I must take it upon myself to be upright to show good example to them. Before going to his shop in the morning, he would call us to the dining table and tell us  to read our books when we returned from school. He was an illiterate but a successful businessman.  On his way back from work,  he would  park his car away from the house and tip-toe into the house. He would always want to meet us the way we were. catch us unaware. He was someone that would always reward you for obeying him. So,  I decided to find a way out because school books were not really interesting to be reading.  I was the type that  usually read when the exam time table came out.  I would read and pass.  However, I developed an idea and that idea was to godecided to be buying  pacesetter novels to read. Anytime I saw that 6 o’clock was approaching, I would go to my room and start reading my novels. You know the  stories were fascinating. I would just be reading and enjoying  it. My father would tip-toe to my door and open it gently. He would see me reading and close the door. He would go back to those that were sitting by the television and scold them . So, that was how I could not do without reading  and I did not know I was developing a reading culture which made books to become my friend.

 

This mindset led to the founding RASDA?

Yes. In fact, the rationale behind RASDA is for us to promote reading culture for sustainable development in Nigeria and Africa because without a vibrant and solid literature or reading culture, we would just be dancing round the wheel. This is because without knowledge, there can’t be light. Without knowledge, there cannot be new inventions and discoveries. So, if we continue to think reading culture is something that we should play down on, we would continue to go down as a nation.

The future of any nation is her  young people, if we don’t nurture them well, the nation won’t do well.

 

How have you been impacting the youths through RASDA?

I could recall that my personal assistant and I, were the ones going all over Oyo state with the driver..  We went to different senatorial districts and from one village to the other. But, one thing that amazed me was that whenever we left  a place, the student from that place would call us in the middle of the night and informed us that  they were actually reading. And to the glory of God, we were having testimonies. And sometimes, we would meet people that would give us testimony of how we  influenced their lives.

One or two major ones that I could  remember was one lady-I was marketing my new book; History and leadership education for schools in Nigeria because I introduced leadership to the curriculum of history book  after attending  Covenant University for a one year leadership course. Based on this, I saw that mindset is the major problem between not being a leader and a leader. So, I was marketing it and there was this National Association of Private School Owners (NAPS) chapter in ibadan invited me to their monthly general meeting and I attended.

I was introducing myself and what we  had done-telling them that our major focus is the learning outcomes of the children and their future. Then, the woman just said,  yes we know RASDA because they have influenced so many people. She was just cutting in. So, after I spoke, the Chairman of the association gave them the opportunity to respond to what I said should signify. So, the lady was the first person to raise her hand and she started her comment. You wouldn’t believe I left there almost shedding tears that truly all the rigours we went while going round paid off.

She narrated how  I delivered a reading culture seminar to corpers in 2007 at the Iseyin Orientation camp. She said she  and her husband were amongst the two thousand corpers  who listened to me that day. So, she said the lecture was like a magnet to them and that since then they had been reading, researching  and doing a lot of things as a result of the message. And that through that message, she and her husband  now own one of the biggest schools in that neighbourhood. They were even telling me everything I was doing. They reminded me that I was doing “Read to lead Africa reality television show.” And there were so many other children that we  influenced. We have trained children in school in our little way. It was not that we were able to move all the students to the realm of reading culture. But, the few ones became our ambassadors and those few ones are doing very well.

 

How is it like carrying on the mantle of leadership as a woman ?

One major thing is for you to know who you are and design how you will get there. You can only be struggling with what you don’t know how to do and that is why capacity development is very important in everything you do. I attended a lot of seminars and workshops. Spiritually, and physically, I gather knowledge. So, it makes everything to work like I am eating pounded yam and egusi. Nothing is giving me stress. I am a home person, a church person and a society and community person. But,  I don’t do anyone in excess. I give priority to each one as it comes . My home is number one and my children. So, I take them to church. I make sure they know the God they serve and know who they are,-that is the number one thing and I take them to a lot of training also. So, as a parent, you have to balance it. So, I know how to monitor and gather capacity.

 

Some people are of the opinion  that women leadership could be chaotic. What is your reaction to this?

Chaotic in terms of problematic?   Sometimes, it appears so because sometimes it is difficult to understand them because of the complexity.  Those that take time to understand them would know that they are as simple as any other person. But, if you don’t take time to understand them-the speed at which they think, at which they move could be a bit of a challenge to others that cannot develop themselves to that level. So, some people would either stay away from them or try to move with them to understand them. So, it depends on the angle you are looking at them from. And people like that,not only women, move faster than their peers because there is something pushing them. There is this zeal. They have passion to achieve this. They have passion for this course and passion is fuel and the energy.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Lagos Is Second Least Liveable City In The World For 2021

Lagos is the second least liveable city in the world for the year 2021. This is according to the most recent annual ranking put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)…

FACT CHECK: Did UNICEF Say Blocking Children’s Access To Pornography Constitutes Human Rights’ Infringement?

CLAIM 1: A Twitter user claims UNICEF said any efforts to block children from accessing pornography might infringe their human rights.