*Author says he was inspired by paucity of academic works
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Four new books were unveiled over the weekend in Abuja, adding intellectual and academic works to bookshelves and the Nigerian society.
Aside from the launch of the books, there was also the official unveiling of a website at the ceremony.
Authored by Dr Chris Onyemaechi Okobah, the four titles, namely Maritime Law in Nigeria, Nigerian Property Management, Nigerian Risk Management, and Arbitration in Nigeria, were, according to the author, necessitated by the paucity of intellectual and academic works in the country and the need to revive the reading culture.
The publications, he noted, reflect a lifetime of engagement with the legal and institutional frameworks on which Nigeria’s prosperity depends.
Speaking at the official launch of the books, which had in attendance dignitaries from the political class, academia, military institutions and other endeavours, the Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District in Delta State, Senator Ned Nwoko, who doubles as the special guest of honour, commended the author for his work, describing the books as very informative and a celebration of knowledge, scholarship and endurance.
Nwoko, who also represented the chairman of the occasion and former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, bought 400 copies on behalf of himself and Ganduje at an undisclosed amount.
He also recommended the books to higher institutions of learning, polytechnics, colleges of education, political institutions, libraries and legislative entities across Nigeria.
“No doubt the books are very informative. Not only that, it is a celebration of knowledge, scholarship and endurance,” he said.
While giving more insight into what went into the publication, the author, Okobah, a prolific author, lawyer and arbitration scholar, who has written 67 books spanning law, governance, risk, biography and fiction, said his writing is united by a single conviction that nations are built on institutions, saying institutions stand on knowledge.
Okobah, who decried the menace of the declining reading culture among children and youths in the country, urged the government to make laws disallowing children of certain ages from accessing social media, which, he said, has distracted them from cultivating the reading habit.
The icon of African literature and recipient of the African Best Living Author Award said: “Through my writing, I speak for the voiceless and through books offer solutions and suggestions to challenges plaguing us daily as a people.
“My books, for instance, centre on happenings in our society like injustice, oppression, human trafficking and all that.
“It is fundamental that government through legislation and parents must work together to bring back the culture of reading in our society.”
The reviewer, Dumebi Henry Emma-Dibia, Esq., stressed the need for maritime sector regulation and risk associated with transactions, urging urgent reforms in the sector.
Another reviewer, Augusta Massey, Esq., also dwelled on Arbitration in Nigeria, while recommending Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as a means of helping to break down the mediation process, as obtainable in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Rwanda and Ghana.