Beginning With A Bang: The Uyo Book Club January 2026 Reading Session
It’s 2026, and the Uyo Book Club is up to what it has been up to since 2015: promoting reading and putting Akwa Ibom and Nigeria on the global map, online and in-person. One of such in-person reading promotions is the Uyo Book Club Monthly Reading Session, where book enthusiasts from within and outside of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, converge for a book feast and discourses. January 2026 was no different.
With Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”, the third best-selling single-volume book of all time, as the January 2026 Book of the Month, all was set for the Reading Session. Venue? Shakespeare Hall, WatBridge Hotels and Suites, IBB Avenue, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
Here’s how the Reading Sessions are typically set up: the DEAR Moment (which is really a fancy abbreviation for “Drop Everything And Read Moment”), book reviews, book discussions, performing arts, interactive sessions…
Dr. Udeme Nana, the book club’s Founder, took centre stage as the January 2026 Book Reviewer. While his review did justice to the plot of “The Alchemist”, the real gems were his interpretations and interpolations with relatable present-day events. Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece is really about writing and shaping one’s destiny, regardless of the challenging hurdles regardless. It equates the journey as the destination and the destination to self being the lessons learnt while journeying.
As the month’s Special Guest Reader, Barr. Obo Effanga, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, who is a lawyer-cum-journalist-cum-human-rights-activist and the author of two published books: “Déjà vu Nigeria” and “To The Sun at Sunset”, related the theme of “The Alchemist” to happenings in the Nigerian sociopolity, insisting Nigeria is no more than a reflection of its citizens.
Like the protagonist, Santiago, we tend to realise development and progress are arduous and require sacrifice and patience, which refine us individually and collectively as a nation; sacrifices, sadly, not everyone is willing to make.
Exemplifying with Nigerian elections, he continued that the actions of the citizens themselves are at odds with the change and advancement clamoured for, noting that vote-buying takes two parties to work: the buyers vying for elective office and the sellers otherwise seeking proper representation.
The interactive session of the Uyo Book Club Monthly Reading Session in recent months has had a twist to it: In real time, we get to talk about books read during the DEAR Moment, and discuss the salient points from the Books of the Month reviewed. Everyone gets to have a go at it. But with INEC REC in attendance and politics being at the front burner of topical issues, the interactive session was also an opportunity for the members present to quiz and seek answers to concerns about the sanctity of the Nigerian electoral system and processes, which Barr. Effanga addressed and quelled.
Dr. Udeme Nana conferred on Barr. Obo Effanga, the Fellow of the Uyo Book Club, while charging the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State to start a book club at the State INEC Office, in continuation of the mission to promote reading across Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria.
Everything is already set in motion for the February 2026 Reading Session. Dr. Martin Akpan’s “The Crumb Eater”, a timeless piece published in the penultimate year of the last century but addressing issues which Nigeria and Africa still grapple with socio-politico-economically in the present day, is the chosen Book of the Month.
Why the Doctor-Writer’s classic still holds relevancy even today is one you will find out by getting a copy of ” The Crumb Eaters” early enough. Venue and time for the February 2026 Reading Session? Same as always: WatBridge Hotels and Suites, IBB Avenue, Uyo and on the last Saturday of February by 4:00 pm.
The Uyo Book Club Monthly Reading Session is just one aspect of the book club. Activities and interactions continue across social media, particularly on WhatsApp and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/uyobookclub).
—– Kingsley Mark Akpan
