ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — It’s a bookworm’s idea of heaven: 18 days of nonstop reading.
In a restaurant in Nigeria’s Lagos, three men and two women have been reading books for over 431 hours in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the longest marathon of reading aloud, part of a campaign to promote literacy in Africa’s most populous country.
Throughout the daunting task, dozens joined the group, some online via a live stream, cheering them on.
By Saturday, when the attempt ended, the reading marathoners had read 79 books authored by Nigerians, taking turns to continuously read out loud literary works and self-help books to give the other team members a chance to catch their breath.
An attempt to promote inclusive education
In the country of more than 210 million people, “most people don’t have access to books (and) I participated to encourage inclusive education,” Precious Ukachi told The Associated Press. The 30-year-old was one of the reading marathoners. Others were John Obot, 37, Stephen Oyelami, 23, Temitope Ogunremi, 28, and Ketura Heman, 27.
Obot said the hardest part of the attempt was reading at night. “We had limited time to rest, but what kept me going was the goal.”
The current record holders for the longest reading aloud marathon are a group of five people from the Dominican Republic, who clocked 365 hours and 39 seconds in 2011.
This time in Nigeria, the last word was uttered when the timer showed: 431 hours, 31 minutes and 25 seconds.
The Guinness World Record is yet to confirm the new record, a process that sometimes takes weeks. The nonprofit behind the event, the Naija ReadFest, says it will forward all evidence needed to the organization.
“We did this to celebrate Nigerian literature,” said Kingsley Sintim of the Naija ReadFest.
The nonprofit said the event aimed at highlighting books by local authors to young and old alike. The books the group read also covered issues like migration and finance — both major concerns for the West African country.
Nigeria’s literacy dilemma
Besides having one of the world’s highest numbers of children out of school, with more than 10 million affected, Nigeria also has a literacy rate of around 63% in 2021, which advocates say has barely improved in recent years.
Oyelami, one of the reading marathoners, said: “It was difficult to get books because of the kind of environment I grew up in.” He attended a public school where new books and education tours were mostly out of reach.
A major challenge has been the poor investment and policies in the education sector, Irene Okon, executive director of Lead-Out nonprofit that seeks to improve learning in public and low-income schools, told the AP.
The poor investment in literacy in Nigeria has made things more difficult for writers, said Carol Yaakugh, an Abuja-based author.
“While we have numerous tech startups addressing finance, health, and other areas, the literacy space remains underdeveloped,” Yaakugh said.
The deep-rooted issue is illustrated in the capital, Abuja, where the National Library project, launched in 2006, remains unfinished while public officials fund a lifestyle of luxury.
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