Abstract-Early childhood is as charming as ever. It is an age of imagination and fantasy. Therefore, it is natural that education at this stage should develop the child's imagination through literacy materials such as folk-tales, rhymes and songs etc. This paper is therefore intended to enthuse to the psychological view that children's success in life depends on the preparation they receive when younger. The paper upholds the view that a good preparation of children for life entails giving them the ability to read and write. The importance of literacy is measurable. Literacy is instrumental to the attainment of success of individuals in both career aspirations and quality of life. It is fundamental for learning in school. It impacts on individuals the ability to participate in society and understand important public issues. It also provides foundation upon which skills in the labour industry are built, etc. The paper concludes that literacy, which should start from infancy, could be better taught using the phonics methodology. This is because, in early childhood, education should involve more of playing, singing, clapping, etc, and that is the focal objectives of phonics method. This should be so to support the idea that literacy should not be boring but enjoyable especially as early as infancy, because it is a panacea for achieving life's goals.

Hand-in-hand with the current renewed emphasis on students’ success and a resurgence of reading across the curriculum, teachers (instructors) in all disciplines need to refocus on reading across the curriculum to address students’ needs to achieve instructional goals, and to prepare citizens for independent learning. It seems clear that a refocused emphasis on reading as a process of getting meaning from text to be used for analysis, synthesis and evaluation, in the context of critical literacy across the curriculum could potentially address the difficulties of students, the goals of teachers and the needs of the nation for an educated, informed, fully participatory, democratic population. These goals can be achieved through four specific strategies that can make faster, better reading possible for everyone, including, first an understanding of the nature of the reading process; second, a consistent focus on direct classroom teaching of critical reading skills that go beyond comprehension; third, opportunities for modeling and practising of these critical reading skills; and fourth, the development of an understanding of the conventions of disciplines and the particular strategy used in an array of academic areas. This is going to be the focus of this paper

This paper deals with reading and effective leadership. It highlights the fact that every reader is a potential leader. Effective leadership is therefore hinged on acquiring essential reading skills. The paper concludes by recommending ways individuals can enhance their reading skills