Feasting On Pages: The Uyo Book Club February 2026 Reading Session

So when “The Crumb Eaters”, authored almost three decades ago by doctor-cum-writer, Martin Akpan, was chosen as the Uyo Book Club’s February 2026 Book of the Month, fewer books could outrank its theme and content which encapsulates, not just the Nigerian reality, but serves as a cautionary tale for insistently journeying on same roads which have yielded little so far.

First, like all proper dinners, we treat ourselves to appetisers and other such literary side dishes; then the main course. The venue? Shakespeare Hall, WatBridge Hotels and Suites (opposite Ibom Hall), IBB Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom. The Uyo Book Club’s Monthly Reading Sessions are held on the last Saturday of every month.

Picture this: You walk into a conference hall with heaps of colourful books with as many diverse titles and themes as the fauna in a rainforest. And if you can’t exactly do so, the attached images tell the story.

So, back to our literary appetisers. We call it the “DEAR Moment”, which is a fancy play on the “Drop Everything And Read Moment”. Helping yourself to as many books as you can read, there are thousands of options to whet and satiate your literary appetite. We just read – we drop everything and read. And just when you think it can’t get any better, Dr. Eyoh Etim, the February 2026 Book Reviewer, steps to the podium to dissect “The Crumb Eaters”.

 

Reviewing the book, Dr. Etim did a post-colonial analysis. He particularly highlighted the linguistic style chosen for “The Crumb Eaters” as simple, relatable, and inclusive of the spoken languages – including Pidgin English – in Nigeria. It deals with the complexities of Nigeria’s leadership recruitment structure and teaches that the quality of governance is proportional to the type of leaders distilled from the masses as representatives.

If you have seen the promotional graphic flyer for the February reading session, you’ll already know who the month’s Special Guest Reader is. Dr Andy Eyo is the CEO of the Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS), which, over the course of two decades, has driven health initiatives and campaigns throughout Akwa Ibom State, collaborating with top establishments such as the United States’ CDC and USAID, among others.

Speaking on “The Crumb Eaters” and the Uyo Book Club, Dr Andy regretted that as a country, decades after the book’s publication, we still haven’t moved past fundamental issues like leadership. He also expressed the novelty of attending events where books are heaped on tables and the attendees enjoined to read at length, marking out the Uyo Book Club as different in its approach.

Reacting to the review, Justice Ita Mbaba, a retired Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, bemoaned what he insists has become the norm in Nigeria for the least gifted ascending to leadership positions, cautioning that the societal changes the country continues to yearn for will be beyond reach until the anomaly is righted. Justice Mbaba commended initiatives like the Uyo Book Club for providing platforms to subject social issues to intellectual crucibles.

Perhaps the most piquing aspect of “The Crumb Eaters” is, though published in 1998 while Nigeria prepared to enter the Fourth Republic and a return to democracy the succeeding year, its theme, lessons, and content generally are just as relevant today, in 2026, as they were then. It is reflective of decades – old developmental issues we have continued to grapple with.

The book’s author, Dr. Martin Akpan, posited that authors are seers fueled by insights which can only be attributed to the divine. Likening the observable going on in our sociopolity to diabetes, a health condition resulting from low production of insulin to counter excess sugar coursing through the body, the doctor-writer juxtaposed good leadership as the insulin to heal Nigeria’s debilitating issues.

“The Crumb Eaters” took no more than two months and twenty days from idea conception to manuscript. An impressive feat for one who was wholly science-inclined and had no formal tutoring of Literature as a subject during his secondary and post-secondary education.

Ace broadcaster, newspaper columnist, and social critic, Mr Michael Bush, enjoined us to always reflect on the Books of the Month throughout the weeks leading up to the Reading Sessions. Addressing the theme of “The Crumb Eaters”, he charged platforms templated on intellectualism, like the Uyo Book Club, to play more active roles in leadership grooming and recruitment while pledging to be more proactive in associating with the book club.

It is on this note that for March, 2026, the Uyo Book Club will be reading and discussing the articles and columns by Mr Michael Bush over the years this month. You should join us.

The promotional material and information about the Uyo Book Club’s Monthly Reading Session and other activities are posted and archived on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/uyobookclub.