ON THE IMPORTANCE OF READING
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and current governor of Kaduna state, Nigeria, recounts in his book, "The Accidental Public Servant" (pp. 10-11) When I first came to Kaduna in June 1968, my uncle took me to what was to be my new school to register: Local Education Authority Primary School in Kawo. We were waiting in the office of the headmaster, Mr. Julius O. Audu and I saw that day's edition of The New Nigerian - the leading newspaper in the North at the time -on his desk... I took the paper and became so engrossed in reading it that I did not notice the headmaster standing there watching me when he returned. "You were reading my paper. Can you read a newspaper? Asked the headmaster. I said I could ...He then directed me to read the first paragraph which I also did. Of course, my pronunciation was not perfect but he was impressed with the extent to which I could read because because the norm for students coming from a village t