By Yemi Adebisi, Acting Head, Literary/Arts
Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, is one of the few leaders that create time for reading despite his tight schedule. Not only that, he has contributed immensely to develop Nigeria’s reading culture especially through the annual Garden City Literary Festival, now, Port Harcourt Book Festival. It would be recalled that this effort has earned the city its glamour to become the 2014 World Book Capital City.
Last year, on a day set aside to commemorate children annually, Amaechi, carried out a double celebration. He spent Children’s Day, which is also his birthday, reading and interacting with students of State Primary School, Kpite, in Ogoni. He read about the historical character, Marie Curie, a two-time Nobel Prize winner and scientist from the 19th century. Curie’s life story stands out especially when understood against the historical backdrop in which she existed: a time in which education and womanhood were not synonymous.
Curie was a scientific icon remembered for her pioneering work in the field of radiation research. She discovered radium and polonium, defining their atomic weight and their place in the periodic system, and she was the first to discover methods for extracting pure radium salts and metal. Curie, who first coined the term ‘radioactivity,’ was key in developing methods for quantitatively measuring radioactivity and for discovering its effect on living cells. She was twice awarded the Nobel Prize, first in 1903 in Physics and then again in 1911 in the field of Chemistry. She was the first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes, and along with Linus Pauling. In addition, she was the first woman in history to earn a Ph.D. at a French university. She was in general remembered for her scientific brilliance and for her diligence and perseverance in the face of tremendous discrimination and hardship.
Governor Amaechi, seated between the founder of the Rainbow Book Club (RBC), Mrs. Koko Kalango, and Rivers State’s Commissioner for Education, Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi highlighted at least two important lessons from the book.
Firstly, that poverty should not inhibit any person from achieving his or her life goals and secondly, that hard work is important as a way to success.
The 50-minute session ended with the governor emphasising to the students the need for them to take full advantage of the opportunities they are being given with free education, since some students in other states do not enjoy the same privilege.
When asked what he did before he became governor, he replied, “I was a hustler.” He said he did a variety of jobs but remained on the right side of the law.
Amaechi also claimed that his main interest is reading, and that he has two libraries at home. He said he was currently reading a book,Why Nations Fail by James A. Robinson and Daron Acemoglu, but recommended A Swamp Full of Dollars, a book on the Niger Delta,by Michael Peel to the students.
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