THE WRITTEN WORD: Africans today are just not reading enough

Reading culture varies in a number of ways across African societies, but what is generally perceived about Africans is that they are not noted for frequently reading books, magazines, newspapers or any literary materials - even in their leisure time.

This is summed up in a popular adage, which says that whenever you want to hide something from an African, you should just write it in a book.

But is this perception really true that Africans are people who lack a good reading culture?