The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof Olusola Kehinde, has disclosed the university’s plan to convert the residence of the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, in Ijegba, Abeokuta, Ogun State into a world-class library and writers’ research haven.
The vice chancellor, who decried the declining reading culture among young Nigerians, said the university was ready to back any initiative that would reverse the trend.
According to a statement on Sunday, the VC spoke while playing host to the executives of the Association of Nigeran Authors, Ogun State chapter, who paid him a courtesy visit recently.
The vice chancellor, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof. Olukayode Akinyemi, said the university would soon establish a world-class bookshop to complement its electronic library with a facility for 24-hour’ study to improve the reading culture.
“FUNAAB does not joke with creativity and it’s in the process of turning Professor Wole Soyinka’s Ijegba residence into a Library and Writers’ haven for research”, Kehinde said.
Earlier, the Ogun ANA Chairman, Dr. Chris Omotosho, lauded FUNAAB for integrating culture into its educational curricula despite being a science-based institution.
“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about the FUNAAB Theatre Group. This is something novel; it is a laudable initiative that will further enrich the minds of students through the graphic dramatisation of information”, he said.
