Rethinking development through literacy, reading culture, and research infrastructure

The Intellectual Paradox of a Literate State without Libraries

Imo State has, for decades, prided itself as the intellectual capital of Nigeria – home to one of the most literate populations in the country, with literacy rates above 89% (NBS, 2023), and a higher education enrollment ratio surpassing the national average by nearly 40%. Yet, beneath this veneer of intellectual distinction lies a disturbing paradox: the complete absence of functional public libraries, research centers, or even well-established bookshops across its major urban centers.

Owerri, the State Capital and one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas – with an estimated population of 1.8 million people (2024, NPC estimates)—hosts five universities, three tertiary healthcare institutions, and numerous polytechnics and colleges, yet not a single operational public library exists to serve its student, academic, or civic population.

The Imo State Library Board, once a modest hub of reading culture in the 1980s, is now structurally defunct, with its facilities converted to non-educational uses or left in ruins.

This intellectual vacuum raises urgent and uncomfortable questions:

How can a state that produces one of the highest numbers of professors, PhD holders, and graduates in Nigeria have no central reading or research facility?

What kind of academic ecosystem thrives in a place where no bookshops exist, and reading is practically extinct as a culture?

What quality of thought, leadership, innovation, and enterprise can emerge from an environment where the pursuit of knowledge has been replaced by a fixation on leisure, consumption, and entertainment?

The State of Knowledge Infrastructure in Imo State: Data and Realities

According to UNESCO’s 2022 Global Education Monitoring Report, public libraries are critical pillars of lifelong learning and civic enlightenment. Countries with strong library systems – such as South Korea, Singapore, and Finland – record higher human capital indices, innovation outputs, and GDP per capita.

In contrast, Imo State, despite its concentration of intellectuals and academic institutions, presents a case of “knowledge desertification.”

Key Indicators (2024);

Metric;

Statistic;

Source.

State Population – ~6.5 million – National Population Commission

Literacy Rate – 89.4% – National Bureau of Statistics

Number of Tertiary Institutions – 10+ – NUC, 2024

Number of Functional Public Libraries – 0 – Imo Ministry of Education

Number of Major Bookshops in Owerri – 1 (small-scale, Ikenegbu). – Field Survey, 2024

Average Annual Book Sales (Owerri) – < ₦15 million – Booksellers Association of Nigeria, SE Chapter

Number of Hotels and Lounges (Owerri Metropolis) 247 registered (and about 500 including the unregistered and micro-scale) Imo State Tourism Board, 2023

These statistics reveal a troubling social inversion: for every library that does not exist, there are over 200 to 500 leisure and hospitality facilities. The ratio of knowledge centers to recreational centers in Owerri is arguably one of the worst in Nigeria – worse even than states with lower literacy rates.

This reality has profound implications. Without reading, research, or documentation infrastructure, the academic output, intellectual curiosity, and leadership quality of a population begin to stagnate. A society that ceases to read also ceases to think critically, invent, or evolve.

The absence of libraries and a functional reading culture is not merely an educational issue – it is an economic and developmental crisis.

The World Economic Forum (2023) Human Capital Report identifies access to information and research infrastructure as a major determinant of innovation and productivity. States like Lagos and Ogun, which have both private and public libraries (e.g., Herbert Macaulay Library, Ogun Tech Hub Library), also lead in innovation-driven enterprises, tech start-ups, and creative industries. Imo State, despite its intellectual potential, contributes less than 1.5% to Nigeria’s innovation output (Nigerian Innovation Index, 2023).

With the near disappearance of libraries, students and scholars rely on lecture notes, recycled handouts, and outdated references. This produces degree holders without intellectual depth, and academics with limited exposure to contemporary global scholarship. This intellectual laziness erodes the credibility of higher education in the State and by extension, the State’s reputation for excellence.

Leadership is rooted in curiosity, research, and exposure. Societies that do not read are governed by intuition rather than insight, sentiment rather than evidence. When policymakers lack a reading and research background, policy becomes reactionary, not strategic. Hence, the persistent cycle of underdevelopment – plans without intellectual foundations, and programmes without empirical evaluation.

Public libraries historically serve as civic learning centers – spaces for citizen education, democratic engagement, and social dialogue. Their absence fosters political ignorance, low participation, and a population easily swayed by propaganda rather than informed reasoning.

Countries that have transitioned from poverty to prosperity – particularly the Asian Tigers (Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia)—invested heavily in literacy and knowledge infrastructure before achieving industrial takeoff.

Singapore built over 26 public libraries before its manufacturing revolution began. Today, every district has a library linked to a digital knowledge platform accessible to all citizens.

South Korea’s National Reading Policy (1960–1980) mandated public libraries within 5 kilometers of all urban settlements. Literacy soared, and innovation followed.

Rwanda, despite its history of civil conflict, established 400 community libraries and mobile digital reading centres between 2015–2022 – anchoring its emergence as East Africa’s innovation hub.

Lagos State’s Public Library Revamp Project (2019–2024) renovated 20 libraries and digitalised 15 of them through PPP arrangements.

Kano State’s Library Transformation Programme (2022) established five zonal libraries with ICT hubs for youth development and entrepreneurship.

Imo State can easily replicate these models with strategic intent, modest investment, and public-private-diaspora partnerships.

Organising investment summits or economic talk shops while the intellectual foundation of the State remains hollow is a tragic misplacement of priorities. Investment flows to environments where knowledge, innovation, and literacy thrive. Without libraries, research centers, and informed citizens, there is no intellectual infrastructure to sustain development.

As the Asian development philosophy aptly puts it: “Do the little things right, and the big things will take care of themselves.”

Rebuilding the reading and knowledge ecosystem of Imo State – beginning with a functional network of public libraries and accessible bookshops – is one of those “little things” with transformative potential.

Recommendations: Building the Knowledge Infrastructure for a New Imo

A digitally-driven system of community libraries across the 27 LGAs, with at least one central library and innovation hub in Owerri.

Fund libraries through joint contributions from the State Government, Imo diaspora professionals, private educational institutions, and faith-based organizations.

Link libraries to online research databases and e-learning platforms (e.g., JSTOR, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost).

Introduce the “Read Imo Project” targeting schools, youth groups, and local communities with reading competitions and book fairs.

Provide tax reliefs and grants to local booksellers and publishers to encourage the establishment of quality bookshops across major cities.

The tragedy of Imo State today is not the absence of roads or industries – it is the absence of a reading and research culture. A people who do not read cannot innovate; a leadership that does not study cannot govern intelligently; and a State that does not preserve knowledge cannot develop sustainably.

If every corner of Owerri can host a hotel, a lounge, or a bar, then it can certainly host a library. The moral and developmental imperative is clear: rebuild the knowledge infrastructure, restore the reading culture, and reawaken the intellectual spirit of Imo State.

Until then, all visions of industrialisation, economic summits, and investment drives will remain castles built on sand – eloquent in speech, but empty in substance.

Dr Nwaodu Lawrence, Development Economist.