TotalEnergies Urges Students to Give Priority to Reading

Raheem Akingbolu

Management of TotalEnergies and stakeholders in the Lagos State Education sector, have described the long hours being given daily to browsing  and other social media activities as a major factor militating against reading among students.

Speaking  during the company’s “2023 DW Book Reading and Open Day”, with the theme, “A Chapter A Day Keeps The Brain Alert”,  the company’s  deputy managing director, Mr. Victor Bandele, called on students drawn from various public secondary schools in Lagos to imbibe the reading culture early to be able to pursue their desired dreams. The deputy managing director, who was represented by the Executive General Manager, Deep Water Field Operations,  Mr. Adeyemi Akinlalu, pointed out that reading helps in building of mental alertness.

On why the company has consistently adopted the catch them young approach to propagate reading culture, Bandele said TotalEnergies appreciated the place of education in development, hence the need to mentor the students to bring out their potential.

 While emphasising the importance of reading in students’ lives, he said it helps individuals acquire life improvement skills, gain more vocabularies as well as acquire new information and knowledge.

He said that former United States  President, Barrack Obama, would usually say “Reading is the gateway key that makes all other learning possible.”

He said this was out rightly true as all learning from complex word problem, history, scientific discoveries and technological proficiency could all be made possible through reading.

“Our main aim of organising this is to promote reading among students and encourage them to develop the habit as a way of increasing their knowledge.

“Also, the open day is to share career trajectories and explore career requirements and opportunities to guide these students to make early career decisions.

“Reading involves a considerable level of concentration, discipline, patience, deeper thinking and all these virtues will help the reader to acquire good character and values needed to live a successful life,” he said.

According to him, the book read, “Gulliver’s Travels”, written by Jonathan Swift, is designed to heighten their appetite for books and enhance their reading capacity.

“Please do not allow social media and all electronic gadgets sabotage your dreams of becoming a success story. Hard work pays,” he said.

Earlier, General Manager, Total Country Service, TotalEnergies, Mrs Adesua Adewole,  counseled  the students on the need to take deliberate steps to develop themselves as they grow older.

“This is our way of giving back to the society and I’m particularly excited with this because it is capable of transforming your lives for the better.

“I want you all to understand that this is an important part of your lives, it is capable of changing the direction of what you want to do in terms of career.

“Reading makes you gain knowledge and this helps in improving your capabilities. Know that every experience you have, defines your values,” she said.

Speaking at the event, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Jamiu Ali-Balogun, appreciated TotalEnergies for the annual reading initiative.

The commissioner advised the students to take conscious efforts to read.

According to him,  “reading helps to boost your sense of mental alertness, pls read, when you read, you rule the world.”

The participating schools included: Ansa-ur-deen Senior High School, Isolo; Tolyfun Kay College, Ijora Badia; Apapa Senior High School and Birrel Avenue Senior Secondary School, Yaba.

Others were: Eric Moore Senior High School, Surulere; Ansarudeen Girls’ High School; Mainland Senior High School; Sanya Senior High School, Ijeshatedo and Wesley Girls Senior Secondary School, Yaba.