Mrs. Tinubu is walking this path of social change and transformational activism. A woman of quiet achievement: she was a Senator like her husband; was First Lady when Tinubu was governor of Lagos; and now First Lady when her husband is First Citizen of the nation. It’s obvious she knows her place in history and has used her privileged positions to impact humanity.
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, turned 65 on September 21. Never mind that she looks over a decade younger. A mother, pastor and politician. She used the occasion of her birthday to raise funds; not for herself, family or to throw a lavish party, but funds to complete the National Library.
Nigeria has had an unending national library project. A building that would be a knowledge resource centre. A nursery of ideas, dreams, visions and innovation. A library is a marketplace of knowledge; a rendezvous for research. Individuals have libraries. Family library. Community library. Neighbourhood library. A library is a thing of pride, not of shame. It’s a place where minds are forged in the furnace of knowledge. It’s the birthplace of fecundity. Library is the laboratory of knowledge.
Research and history are in accord on this one fact: All advanced nations have thriving and hugely resourced libraries. Therefore, not having a resourced library or having one as jaded as the existing National Library of Nigeria is symptomatic of a nation with zero premium on knowledge. The Library of Congress with over 32 million books and 61 million manuscripts as well as numerous unique, historical documents is America’s flagship knowledge monument.
The Abbey Library of Saint Gall is Switzerland’s oldest library, a repository of rare books and documents and serve the Swiss community and the entire world as does the Austrian National Library which is home to the country’s publications as well as numerous historic documents. A rich treasure trove.
Asian nations flaunt libraries that are deep in anthropology and ancient wisdom documents. The National Library of Singapore , the National Library of Indonesia, the Starfield Library in Seoul (South Korea), the Tianjin Binhai Library in China and the Nakajima Library in Japan ensure that Asians have access to a deep knowledge pool from where their minds are shaped for innovation and the beautiful products and values from that part of the world. These countries and many others never played politics with their libraries. No serious nation does.
But Nigeria has toyed with its national library; a monument that should not only unite the nation but should also serve as the watering hole for the people to harness knowledge and propagate a culture of innovation and learning.
The National Library project was first proposed in 1981 and construction began in 2006 after a contract award worth N8.59 billion, with a two-year completion target. That target was never met. By 2023, a good 17 years after, only 44 per cent of the work had been done. In the passage of time given inflation and other fiscal issues, cost estimates for completion now range between N49.6 billion and N120 billion.
The National Library site is symbolic in location in the heart of Abuja, squatting between the National Mosque and the National Ecumenical Centre, making it a monument of easy access to users. Whereas successive administrations had pledged completion but failed, this year, the Tinubu government mandated TETFund to resume funding and restart construction of the project once conceived as a hub for intellectual fertilization and cultural curatorship.
For 19 years, precisely since 2006, Nigeria government under Olusegun Obasanjo, embarked on the National Library project. There were issues of corruption. Media reports suggest that funding ceased because the government officials involved in executing the project were more interested in what comes into their personal pockets than seeing the project completed. However, President Bola Tinubu’s administration is ready to “take the bull by the horns ,” as the First Lady put it, to ensure that construction is completed within two years.
The existing national library does not befit any nation in the 21st century. A library is a knowledge resource and socio-cultural hub. Nigeria needs a functional tech-smart 21st century library, fully automated, well stocked and tech-archived. A library that is accessible to the public both physically and virtually.
Is it not something to be ashamed of that a country that sponsors pilgrimages to Israel, Rome, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and just anywhere, cannot boast of a modern library? A nation that donates money to other nations cannot fund the building of a national library for its citizens. For those who care to know, libraries are no longer warehouses of jaded and outdated books, journals and dog-eared newspapers and magazines. Modern libraries are fully automated, interactive and run by well-heeled personnel versed in information science tech-driven management. Nigeria sure needs a modern library with an independent management, if possible. This will ensure its efficiency, value-addition and seamless interface with various publics including affiliations with reputable global libraries and educational institutions.
It is on this premise that First Lady Oluremi Tinubu deserves laudation for sacrificing mouthwatering birthday gifts for a national project of the stature and importance of a national library. All over the world, some first ladies have used their offices and closeness to power to influence change, impact youths, engender activism for human rights, empower the girl-child and the disadvantaged, leverage education, healthcare and to upskill the unskilled and the poorly skilled.
America’s Eleanor Roosevelt rated the most prominent and people-friendly First Lady in US history. Wife of one of America’s greatest presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32nd President of the United States), she was a crusader for a range of social justice causes such as racial equality, labour rights, and women’s rights, and most of all in getting her husband to heed the cries of the poor out-of-job Americans rendered helpless by the Great Depression.
Mrs. Tinubu is walking this path of social change and transformational activism. A woman of quiet achievement: she was a Senator like her husband; was First Lady when Tinubu was governor of Lagos; and now First Lady when her husband is First Citizen of the nation. It’s obvious she knows her place in history and has used her privileged positions to impact humanity.
As the First Lady of Lagos State, she launched the New Era Foundation which birthed the Spelling Bee competition for public primary and secondary schools in the state; the Council of One-day Governors consisting of past winners and runners-up of the Spelling Bee competition, and the New Era Youth Camp (NEYOCA), a co-educational, residential facility that caters for youths aged seven to 17. She’s done much more in Nigeria and outside Nigeria to help the underclass. National Library is only just the latest.
Such a heart that cares beyond her family deserves encouragement. Trying to politicise the National Library fundraiser is a disservice to her psyche and the sensibilities of right-thinking Nigerians.
