I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on a curious gap in our knowledge system — one that says a lot about how Nigeria preserves (and neglects) its own history.

As a freser  at the University of Lagos, We was recently assigned a research topic on the uniqueness of Calabar in book publishing. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Truthfully, I knew very little about the origins of book publishing in Nigeria. But the moment I began digging, my curiosity grew.

My initial search on Google and ChatGPT provided helpful insights and pointed me toward the fact that Calabar the capital of present-day Cross River State played a foundational role in Nigeria’s publishing history, dating as far back as 1846 with the efforts of Rev. Hope Waddell of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland at the Old Calabar Mission.

Motivated to learn more, I turned to YouTube, expecting to find documentaries, archival materials, or even amateur explainers. To my surprise, there was nothing. Not a single detailed video tracing the history of book publishing in Nigeria, let alone Calabar’s pioneering role.

It raised a serious concern: How do we have such a culturally significant origin story yet no digital record documenting it? How can Calabar  the cradle of Nigeria’s book culture remain largely absent from one of the world’s biggest information platforms?

Something is missing, and it’s a reminder of the urgent need to preserve, digitize, and amplify our own narratives before they fade into silence.