by Mubarak Aminu

This four-letter word is so powerful and amazing, it has the ability to transform one’s mind and open your eyes to a whole new opportunity that ordinarily you will not find elsewhere. These four letters comprise a word called BOOK. Back then in our nursery school we used to say B for a ball, perhaps it will have made more meaning if we replaced that ball with books when teaching our kids the alphabets as it might have gone a long way in instilling the reading habit among our kids.

It is said that if you want to hide something from a person in this part of the world, the best way to do it is to place it in a book.  This is because not everyone believes in books over here; that notwithstanding, I’m here as a result of the belief I have in books and the powers it has armed me with.

I saw the spark of interest in books way back in my secondary school day when we used to read books like Things Fall Apart, African Night Entertainment and others. Anytime it came to that period where we had to read those books, there is this passion and excitement that would run in me throughout the period of the class. I enjoyed the whole period, wishing it will not come to an end; this coupled with the fact that I loved to listen to radio programs to the extent that my dad bought me one of those small FM radio after my junior secondary school.

Going to Technical school almost made me lose my passion for reading because of the nature of the school where all they teach are technical courses, and to make it worse I was in an electrical installation class, but thanks to Step B project who built an ICT center for us and equipped our library with textbooks of great values, my hope and passion was restored. I was able to find books that I could read and do what my heart wanted.  Fast forward to my Technical school graduation, my passion for books led me into technology as I could read and understand most IT stuff (and programming) since a lot of it is not rocket science. This went a long way in helping me develop my passion in technology blogging, where I share my thoughts on Technology with the world.

I’m telling this story not to bore you but to make you realize the power in books. If only you can start reading things you have the passion for, as we are in the information age ’cause he who has the information has the power to lead the way forward, as it is said. The only way to get this information is by developing reading habits, because it is only then you can get to lay your hand on the most valuable information out there. Without reading, I’m very sure I  will not have  discovered my passion for Technology and the things I’m doing right. You see, I will not even be here talking to you.

You, reading this article, shows that you have that burning desire to develop a reading habit, and you can start from reading the blog post of your favorite blog and publishers online. During my Technical school days I’d use our Step B ICT centre to read the blog post of Jide of ogbonge blog and Oscar of oscarmini blog, as both had a great impact on me during the early days of my interest in blogging and online marketing,

Look around and do a little research about the most successful people in the world today, I’m very sure you will find that element of reading habit in them. You don’t have to read a whole book a day, but start at the level you can handle: it might be one page a day or one blog post of your favorite blog. I know some people will say the moment they start reading, they will instantly sleep especially if they are not reading for exams. If this is true, you can overcome this by listening to audio book and other valuable podcasts.

You see over the years through my reading habit, I have become better in my academic life, my thinking and understanding level has increased beyond my expectations.

I challenge you to develop a reading culture that is unique to your lifestyle, you can use smartphone to read pdf materials on the go. Develop a simple plan from now to the end of the year and start reading today. Have a happy reading culture ahead.

Mubarak Aminu is passionate about anything that has to with technology and using it to solve societal problems. He blogs at www.techarewa.com.

Op-ed Editor