145 hours done! Salute!– Richard Mammah
DATELINE: 2.41 pm, Monday, September 18… John Obot set a new Read-a-thon record when he hit his self-targeted 145-hour read-a-loud contest, thus walking gloriously into the Guinness World Record.
The exercise involved reading out aloud for 145 hours in six days and an hour with a break of 20 minutes at intervals. He eventually read for a total of eight days, because he had to abort the first 53 hours after he discovered a technical error in his procedures.
By his feat, Obot, the Uyo-Akwa Ibom-based writer and literary activist, has dethroned Ryabai Isakov of Kyrgyzstan’s record of 124 hours (in five days).
President of the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Promoters in Nigeria, NBRP, Richard Mammah, who had been a consistent cheer-leader of Obot, announced the accomplishment of the Obot, a member of the Uyo Book Club, UBC, on his Facebook page on Monday, just as the record was set.
He awaits formal affirmation of his accomplishment and official enthronement by the GWR management.
A graduate of Educational Management from the University of Uyo, Obot started his venture on September 9 and drew it to a close on Monday, September 18, at the Waterbridge Hotel in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, attracting throngs of supporters and wonderous members of the public to the site of his accomplishment.
In a post, John Obot himself wrote:
Dr Udeme Nnanna, founder, Uyo Book Club (2nd left) and Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Dr Ekong Sampson, and other guests at Obot’s Read-a-thon attempt
in a statement of solidarity, the committee for Relevant Art, CORA, organisers of the 25-year-old annual Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF, congratulated Obot for his determination to “bring honour to Nigeria and by extension Africa, with his current attempt to break the Guinness World Record, GWR as the longest (145hrs) individual Read-a-thon.”
The statement signed by Samuel Osaze, CORA’s Programme Officer, reads:
CORA identifies with John Obot in the quest to set new world reading record
The Board and members of the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA salute the efforts of MR. JOHN OBOT of the Uyo Book Club to bring honour to Nigeria and by extension Africa, with his current attempt to break the Guinness World Record, GWR as the longest (145hrs) individual Read-a-thon.
As an organisation heavily invested in deepening LITERACY through the instrumentality of the written/oral texts and the arts in general, the CORA values the daring attempt by Mr. Obot.
And as campaigners for the development of HUMAN CAPITAL resources of our nation and the continent through our core foundational objectives of deepening EDUCATION, ENLIGHTENMENT and EMPOWERMENT of the populace, we are confident that Mr Obot’s accomplishment will become a source of inspiration and motivation for the teeming young Nigerians, most of whom, due to the poor educational and social infrastructural situation of the country and continent, could easily be lured into unsavoury activities prevalent in the world today.
CORA wishes to congratulate the various agencies that have been supporting Mr Obot’s venture since he started on September 9. In particular, we salute the leadership and members of the Uyo Book Club to which Mr Obot is a bonafide member, and the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Promoters, NBRP, an initiative that CORA is closely related to, and regularly collaborates with on projects.
We also thank the Government and people of Akwa Ibom State, who we have been told have been supporting Mr Obot in his quest. It is the most responsible action that a government can take to support a worthy venture in the educational sector.
In specific, we salute Mr Obot’s parents and nuclear family and relatives without whose unalloyed supports he could not have ventured out in his current engagement.
NB: CORA would gladly welcome Mr John Obot to the 25th Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF, November 13-19 at the Freedom Park, Lagos and virtually to help in mentoring the teeming members of our CORA Youth Creative Club and GREEN FESTVAL, and as well to further celebrate his accomplishments as an AMBASSADOR of LITERACY campaign and spread of MENTAL CAPACITATION.
CORA recalls that earlier in 2018, yet another Nigerian, Bayode Treasures Olawunmi, had entered the GWR Read-a-thon Hall of Fame when he also attempted and won the trophy. He was celebrated in the year’s edition of our prime project, the LABAF.
FOR the record, this is not the first time that a Nigerian will be attempting the Marathon reading diadem. Then 40-year-old resident of Ikorodu in Lagos, Bayode Treasures Olawunmi, also a member of the NBRP, had in 2018, recorded 120 hours reading 17 books from 13 authors from Monday, February 26 to March 3. He broke the extant record then held by an Indian, Deepak Sharma Bajaan, who read for 113 hours and 15 minutes. For his feat, he got generous support from members of the public who thronged the venue daily to encourage him and received commendations from some statesmen, notably from former vice President Atiku Abubakar and then Governor of Osun state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
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The man John Obot
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