Mkpoikana Udoma
26 October 2018, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt — As parts of its corporate social responsibility, French oil multinational, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, TEPNG, has tasked young people, especially secondary school students in the country on promoting reading culture.
Deputy Managing Director of Total, Port Harcourt District, Mr. François Lecocq, gave the task in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during her 2018 Total’s Book Reading and Open Day for Secondary Schools in Rivers State.
Lecocq who stated that company was committed to promoting a reading culture among young people, urged the students to study hard through reading, in order to lay a good foundation for their future.
Represented at the event by the Deputy General Managing, Public Affairs, and Communication, Mr. Onyekachi Omenuko, Lecocq explained that the programme was imperative as it was geared towards encouraging the development of youths to enable them to grow into responsible citizens.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Hidden Inside of Books’ the Total boss explained that reading was important because everything that can make an individual be successful in life, are hidden inside books.
According to him, “Developing a good reading habit will help to increase knowledge, build confidence and widen the students’ perspectives in life, especially in career development.
“By reading in this context, we are not talking only about reading only your prescribed textbooks in school, but to actually develop the habit of reading a wide variety of books, like novels, fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, magazines, comic books among others.”
Also speaking, the Rivers State Commissioner of Education, Dr. Tamunosisi Gogo-Jaja, urged the students to make books their cherished companion, rather than devoting more times to playing computer games and watching movies.
The commissioner also commended the oil multinational for organizing the event, and called on other corporate organizations in the state, to emulate Total in the promotion of reading culture among young people in the society.