How to motivate Men to buy law books ?

In class the other day, A lecturer wanted to sell us his newly written textbook. Whilst most students did not echo it out loudly, I am sure they were thinking “Oh no – not another latin riddled book with so much legal mumbo jumbo or legal mama jama (make your choice). I am not buying it jo".

Actually, our lecturer was feigning some form of false modesty. He got his colleague to come up and market the book to students. I think his colleague did a great job, at least he succeeded in blowing some big big grammar. However, he left out a crucial piece of information. He finished his sermon and prepared to leave his pulpit when students all chorused “HOW MUCH?”. His reply was "only N2 500". This time the students did not curse the author under their breath – they loudly protested that the cost was too much. He then made the points below.

You don’t look at these things in term of the price but in terms of value. Hmm, He got our attention. For the gentlemen here, say you meet a pretty lady on the campus and you are interested & you want to take her out (Now, he really had my attention). You have to take her to Abuja town as there is nowhere to take her to in Bwari. If you take a cab from here to town, it will cost you at least N3 000 to and fro. That is more than the price of this book. Point Made!

Say you don’t even have a car and you cannot get to borrow one. You have to go by public transport. As she is a lady and you want to give her some measure of comfort, you will have to go in an El-Rufai. (El Rufai is the name given to the coach like buses in the FCT. That will cost you N200 to and fro. You will have to pay for her journey too, as she wont be sitting on your lap just yet. You might need to take one of those small taxis from the bus park to either Tantalizers or Mr Biggs. That should cost you another N200 to and fro for both of you.

When you are in Mr Biggs/Tantalizers, you know women now they cannot eat food without chicken. If she chooses fried rice and chicken, at my conservative estimate that should cost N750. You are not going watch her eat alone are you? If you choose, you are likely to choose the same thing she chose and that is another N750. After the food, you being the gentleman will ask her if she wants anything else and she being a lady will either ask for Ice cream or order a meal that she can bring back here to Bwari in a takeaway pack. By the time you add all the costs, it would be over N2 500. Again, more than the price of this book. Point made!

Now if you have a car, at least you have to fuel it for the journey to town. 10 litres is about N650. Your pretty chikita may take the liberty of inviting two of her other friends as a journey to town is always a treat for you students. Of course, when they appear for the trip you will not be pleased as their presence would spoil whatever plans you had for the evening at worst, or at best, increase the costs you might have to bear. Of course, you wont be seeing them as your love interest’s 2 friends, you will seem them as either as 2 intruders or 2 witches. There is not much you can do about it as their friend is your target and their impression of you is important. No doubt, that you will equally spend more than N2 500.

In all of these scenarios, you have invested about or over N2 500 of your money with no guaranty of success. You dont know if the lady is fertile soil or not and if your efforts will succeed in bearing fruit. Women can eat your chicken & Ice cream even when they know you dont have a chance. If you buy this book, it is yours. It will stand by you. You can read it and it should help your understanding of this course and improve your performance at the bar finals.

During the break, I went to the law school bookshop (not to buy the book I promise) and I saw a long queue of men waiting to buy the textbook. My goodness! They had seen the light!