To Nigeria now, where a group of young creatives have gathered in the capital, Abuja. They're promoting a better reading culture in the country through a traditional literary and arts festival. CGTN's Phil Ihaza has more.

Jonathan Oluwatosin reads from one of his many poems to his friends. The young Poet says he draws inspiration from Nigeria's acclaimed writers.

JONATHAN OLUWATOSIN STUDENT "The accomplishment of Nigerian writers like Chimamanda and the lots actually spurs me to write more, I have refused to back down from writing because I see what they do, I see the recognition they get and I want to be there one day."

Jonathan is a member of the Abuja Literary Society. It's a group that brings together like-minds in literature across the city. It focuses on celebrating the art of traditional writing and reading among Nigerians.

Nigeria is home to internationally acclaimed writers including Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, as well as Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie among others.

The country is rated by the World Culture Score Index as one of the worst countries in terms of reading culture. But organisers here aren't so sure.

VICTOR ANOLIEFO PRESIDENT, ABUJA LITERARY SOCIETY "I will like to argue and position the fact that the reading culture is not dying. It's just suffering some kind of transitional awareness from the culture we knew that is the book to the modern way of reading that is technology platforms. We have a mixed breed of foreign and local contents being fused to represent what we call our art. But with this project, we have done the best we can to synthesize what is clinically ours and put them on the pedestal to show the world what we have that has come of age by the young people around and those who are still aspiring to be relevant in the industry."

While the focus here is on promoting the awareness of traditional literature, some experts believe one of the major challenges affecting both the writer and the reader is the lack of funds.

DIKE CHUKWUMERIJE WRITER "Getting published is one thing, having your book read and bought is another thing so making money from your book is another big problem in this country. Traditional books tend to be quite expensive and we live in a country where poverty rates tend to be high, so a lot of people consider reading of formal books or buying of formal books to be a luxury so it's very important to crash the cost of books and also to give people the space in terms of times and resources in their lives to indulge in that luxury."

The conveners of the festival are optimistic this forum can offer solutions to these problems.

BUCHI ONYEGBULE FESTIVAL ORGANIZER "We are creating a safe space for creatives to come in and feel like they're part of a family, network, meet other people, meet headline writers, get book lovers to meet their favorite authors. This is one of the reasons why we're doing what we're doing and it's fantastic too because people get to sell books, people get involved in different activities, that is why we are here."

PHIL IHAZA ABUJA, NIGERIA "One of the foremost importance of a thriving traditional reading culture is that people get to know more about their society, the challenges and how to prevent or tackle them. With more initiatives like this, Nigeria could be on its way to having a more refined and informed youthful population. Phil Ihaza, CGTN AN."