Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, will host the 2025 book city event starting April 24. The theme of the event is, “Reading a Unifying Factor.”
The book city event is an initiative of the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters in Nigeria (NBRP). The Network was established in Nigeria in February 2020 and 2022 in Abuja, FCT.
The NBRP has a culture of nominating a city in Nigeria that has an NBRP presence to serve as the focal point for reading promotion initiative for a period of one year and such a city is designated as the Book-City for the year. Through a thorough selection process in 2023 by the Network, Abuja emerged as the Book City for 2025. Previous Book Cities have been Uyo (2021 & 2022), Lagos (2023) & Yenagoa (2024) respectively.
Being a Book City entails bringing sustained local and national focus to NBRP activities in the reading promotion space all through the year under reference with a flag off event on April 24, 2025. The mission is to create a society where reading is a vibrant part of everyday life, fostering literacy and personal growth. The flag off of the 2025 book city event will hold at the main conference hall of the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, on April 24.
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The event will bring together students, teachers, parents, academics, researchers, policymakers, as well as government agencies and private sectors institutions in the book and publishing ecosystem such as the National Library of Nigeria (NLA), Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Booksellers Association of Nigeria (BAN), Nigeria International Book Fair Trust, Nigerian Library Association, Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA), Literacy Promotion Association of Nigeria (LPAN), FCT Education Resource Centre (ERC), and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), among others.
According to Chief ‘Loye Olowookere, Coordinator of NBRP, Abuja, “Reading has the power to transform lives and we are committed to making more Nigerians read by making books accessible to them.”
“Our major objective is to bring together book clubs and reading promotion organizations, bodies, and individuals, in the book ecosystem and relevant fields of endeavour for shared advocacy purposes and serve as a platform for encouraging more Nigerians to read.”
There will be two main activities to herald the flag off event: an online reading event on Saturday, April 5, featuring authors and book lovers, and a road walk on Thursday, April 10, along the major streets of Abuja to create awareness about books and the importance of reading.
Chido Onumah, PhD
Secretary, NBRP Abuja Chapter
