By JIMITOTA ONOYUME
 
 PORT HARCOURT -ABOUT eighty percent  of Nigerian students cannot read properly, says Mrs Winihim Jemide, Executive Director, On boarding Impact Consultancy. 

Mrs Jemide who said the finding was the outcome of a recent research conducted round the country also spoke of efforts to address the challenge. Already according to her, forty teachers drawn from schools in Rivers state are being trained on tools for quick reading skills. 
 
Addressing the teachers at the four-day training workshop on quick reading skills in Port Harcourt, she said the whole idea of the workshop was to  re-invent the reading culture among pupils and youths in the country.
 
She said the Quick Reading training session for the teachers would equip them with the needed tools to fast track reading ability among their students. She added that teachers would in turn go to their various local government and communities to teach other teachers on the Quick reading approach to enhance reading culture.
 
“Research shows that 80 percent of Nigerian students are not reading properly. The quick reading programme is to provide teachers with tools to teach reading.
 
“We are on the back of Mr President on this. The foundation was born as a result of the poor performance in the last NECO exam. The President sees the state education has brought him and he wants others to get there too. “
 
In their separate comments, programme Manager, Bring Back the Book Foundation,Mr Weyinmi Jemide,  expressed the hope that this new initiative of President Goodluck Jonathan would stimulate a healthy revival in reading.
 
Also speaking, Rivers State Commissioner for Education , Dame Alice Lawrence Nemi, hailed the project saying she was not surprised that the state was chosen for its pilot scheme because of steps so far taken by the Rivers state governor to shore up quality of education all over the state.

It would be recalled that President Jonathan recently launched the bring back the book project after it was discovered that  the reading culture had dropped among youths in the country.