Wenenda Wali hosts book reading meeting in PH

… Features Waziri Adio’s ‘The Arc of the Possible’

The National Leader of Unity House Foundation (UHF), a peace, social justice and good governance advocacy group, Kingsley Wenenda Wali, at the weekend, hosted the fourth quarter edition of The August Meeting, a Book Review Series designed to rekindle, deepen and promote the reading culture in Port-Harcourt (PH), Rivers State and Nigeria in general.

The fourth quarter edition which is the second in the series featured for review and discussion “The Arc of the Possible”, a memoir by Waziri Adio, former Executive Secretary (ES) of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). The event took place at the Unity Hall of Port-Harcourt Club 1928 building in old GRA, and in attendance were students of different secondary schools, professionals and political elites. It was chaired by Senator Magnus Abe, former parliamentarian representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District and ex-governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State.

Speaking as the Chairman of the occasion, Senator Abe, who applauded the author of ‘The Arc of the Possible’, Waziri Adio and organizers of the book reading event, led by Wenenda Wali, stressed the need for people with good intentions and ideas for development to be encouraged by the society.

Abe believed that the hosts of ‘The August Meeting’ envisioned the platform as a catalyst to encourage critical analysis and knowledge sharing among the participants, an incubator of intellectual property exchange, and a launchpad to revive the love of reading among young people and the society at large.

“The reasons for which this gathering was called made it imperative for me to be here personally today. I understand what Kingsley Wali and the other organizers of this event are trying to achieve. First of all to gather those who love books, love reading and love exchanging ideas. For us to come together and share ideas from the content of the book (The Arc of the Possible). Secondly to encourage young people in reading and let them know the joy, pleasure and opportunities that can come from reading. I feel delighted to be privileged to be part of this unique event.

“I also want to say that Kingsley Wali and I have been friends partly arising from our love for books and partly because we were roommates in the university and we had that common interest.

“A lot has been said about Africans and how we don’t like to read. There is a very popular saying that if you want to hide something from an African you put it in a book. If you put it in a book, the African will never find it, the black man will never find it because he doesn’t read.

“I also want to say that a lot of people think literacy is just the ability to read. There is no difference between the man who can read but does not read and the man who cannot read. We gain a lot from creating time to read books that people write. But only few people show interest in reading,” Abe observed.

The ex-lawmaker narrated the story of how he started reading at age 7 with a book presented to him by his father at the time.

He said: “My father, who was a priest, has a very diverse library. I read everything that I come across. In my primary school in Calabar, in those days Nigeria had public libraries that were functional, well stocked and well equipped. I read every single book in the children section of the Calabar library. I finished all the books before I even started secondary school. I got addicted to reading and spent all my life looking for people who read.

“Today we are discussing a book by Waziri Adio, The Arch of the Possible. This particular book deals with an aspect of Nigeria that makes it a must read for all those who intend to serve in public life. It discusses something that we never really talked about anymore in this country. It poses the questions and provides the answers as to what service actually means.”

Other speakers at the gathering equally expressed their views about the book, hailing the efforts of the writer and the host of The August Meeting.

Wenenda Wali, fondly known as ‘The Godfather’ in PH, had hosted the first in the August Meeting Series, in August this year on his 61st birthday where the book ‘Fellow Nigerians, It’s All Politics’ by Simon Kolawole, a seasoned journalist and columnist, was up for reading and review.