DeeMoat Hub, a new platform designed to promote knowledge, creativity, enterprise, and intellectual engagement, was recently launched in Nigeria. The hub's Programme Lead, Onome Tovia Ugolor, stated that it was created to provide a platform for learning, innovation, enterprise, creativity, and meaningful engagement, with particular attention to young people. The hub aims to promote a stronger reading culture, encourage critical thinking, celebrate Nigerian and African writers, and connect younger generations with stories and ideas capable of influencing their future.
The inaugural event of DeeMoat Books & Ideas, a part of the hub, featured Nigerian writer and publisher, Dr. Eghosa Imasuen, and his non-fiction book, The Challengers. The book explores the experiences of a group of entrepreneurs and their role in the emergence of a new business culture. According to Ugolor, the choice of the book was consistent with the spirit of the programme, noting that its themes of ambition, courage, enterprise, and the experiences of people who confront obstacles and create new possibilities resonated with the objectives of DeeMoat Books & Ideas.
The DeeMoat Hub initiative was established to bring books, authors, and ideas into direct conversation with the public while creating opportunities for readers to engage with writers and reflect on issues raised in books. Ugolor explained that the Books & Ideas programme represented an important expression of the hub's broader vision, adding that it would provide an inclusive platform for authors to interact with readers, inspire public dialogue, and take ideas beyond the printed page into society.
The launch of DeeMoat Hub comes at a time when reading habits are under pressure and young people are confronting an increasingly complex world. According to Ugolor, books remain powerful instruments of education, imagination, and transformation. She added that the hub hoped to use the initiative to promote a stronger reading culture, encourage critical thinking, celebrate Nigerian and African writers, and connect younger generations with stories and ideas capable of influencing their future.
The Edo State government has pledged its support for the initiative, with the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Governor, Hon. Pius Alile, describing the hub as a platform for innovation, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge transfer. He stressed that knowledge should not merely be acquired for its own sake but should translate into productivity, innovation, and societal development. The Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Education, Enodomwanyi Otamere, also commended the hub initiative and encouraged young people to return to the culture of reading.
The founder of DeeMoat Hub, Rev. David Ugolor, explained that the broader vision behind the hub was also rooted in the need to provide young people with an enabling environment for learning, networking, creativity, and leadership development. According to him, the word "Moat" has significance in Benin culture, where it is associated with security. He said the hub was established against the backdrop of what he described as an increasingly insecure world, with lack of knowledge being one of the factors contributing to insecurity.
The author of The Challengers, Dr. Eghosa Imasuen, described the book as an attempt to tell a true story about entrepreneurs he admired and the emergence of a business culture among his generation. He situated the story within what he described as a new phase in Africa's development, where the focus is on economic freedom. The book, according to Imasuen, documents how a group of entrepreneurs built a business and demonstrated principles that are now being replicated by newer generations of businesses.
Key points
- DeeMoat Hub aims to promote a stronger reading culture and encourage critical thinking among young people in Nigeria.
- The hub's inaugural event featured Nigerian writer and publisher, Dr. Eghosa Imasuen, and his non-fiction book, The Challengers.
- The Edo State government has pledged its support for the initiative, recognizing its potential to drive innovation, productivity, and societal development.
