BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Justice Patient Diri, wife of Bayelsa Governor, on Monday encouraged youths to discipline themselves through reading quality literature.
She stated this during the unveiling of the book “When Tomorrow Beckons” and the fundraiser for Spelling Bee Bayelsa.
Diri commended the author for the courage and discipline she showed in writing the book and her encouragement to young people to be disciplined through reading books.
According to her: “My father who was a journalist always encouraged us to read newspapers and good literature books during our days when growing up as teenagers.
“Books are unique and it shapes memories that lives forever than life itself that sharpen the knowledge of the reader. Reading makes me to give the right judgement,” she said.
Also speaking, Amb. Godknows Igali, Chairman of the occasion, commended the author for her literary works which has been brought to limelight, that people with literary expression is very important in the contemporary time.
He said that the book equally touches the Ijaw identity and who they are in the Niger Delta region, adding that young people should turn to writing about their origin as a people.
On her part, Dr Ebidenyefa Tarila-Nikade, the Author of “When Tomorrow Beckons the Convener, Spelling Bee Bayelsa, said that the unveiling of When Tomorrow Beckons and the Fundraiser for Spelling Bee Bayelsa was nothing short of a dream fulfilled.
She commended the wife of the governor Justice Patience Diri, Ambassador Godknows Igali, Chairman of the occasion, King Bubaraye Dakolo, Chairman Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council for their support.
The author said that the unveiling of the book is a platform to raise funds for spelling Bee Bayelsa, which is a spelling competition for public and private primary and secondary schools in Bayelsa.
According to her: “We want to encourage children to develop interest in mentally rewarding activities, for us to be able to do that we have to create motivation and reward them adequately by financial rewards.
“Education material and if the opportunity avail itself, we will also award scholarships to these children.
“This book is written to tell the narrative that the Ijaw people have a deep cosmology that guides their interactions and regulates their behaviors.
“It is to tell the world that we are beyond the struggle for oil resources, we are beyond the multidimensional poverty that they usually describe in this region.
“We are professionals, we have our norms, we have our taboos, we have our world views and rich cultural heritage. Our food dressing amongst others, everything is embedded in this work,” she said.
She urged upcoming writers to think deeper than the modern, that they must carve out a way for themselves for them to expand their horizon and also to take time to engage in deep research on the area of interest.
According to her: “I appeal to young people to go into extensive reading of works that are available to them, social media is a good platform, I do a lot of but it can stray you, till the point that you do not have the time to engage in quality reading.
“So I will encourage them to manage their time in such a way that they can do social media, they can read and research,” she explained.
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