Mr. Willie says libraries will enhance education in Liberia

A US-based Liberian humanitarian and social justice advocate is calling on the government of Liberia to build modern libraries in all districts in the West African country.

In a release sent to Nordic Africa News recently, Musa Willie, founder and executive director of Education Care Africa, said it is sad that since the end of the civil war, the Liberian government has not been able to build a single modern public library in the country. Education Care Africa is a US-based 501C3 non-profit organization that helps provide logistics and safe learning environment for primary schools kids in Liberia.

Mr Willie noted that “according to the World Internet Statistics, released in 2014, only 8.3 percent of the country’s population has access to internet.

“Due to the high rate of un-employment in the country, families can’t afford to buy books for their children to do their homework and other research. ”

He said mere classroom instruction will not fully equip students academically but that  “reading contemporary books from various libraries will enhance their learning capacity significantly” 

Mr. Willie added that Liberian lawmakers who were elected to seek the interest of their districts continue to display total disregard for the plights of the people and added that “if the lawmakers of various districts in the country were concern about education by now, all cities would have had modern resource centers and playgrounds for recreation.

He also blamed the country’s education ministry for wasting millions of tax payers and donors’ funds on repetitive capacity building training programs and international travels that gave birth to a messy education system. 

Mr. Willie, who is also a popular social media commentator, called on lawmakers to advocate for extra budgetary allotment for the building of public libraries and to establishment of free after school programs in the country.

He also called on lawmakers to desist from using public money to provide scholarships only in their constituencies to the disadvantage of others who do not reside in those places. He noted that such behavior is totally unethical with the propensity to undermine the democratic level playing field.