THE Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has faulted First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s birthday appeal toward completing the long-abandoned National Library in Abuja.
In a post on his X handle, Obi congratulated the First Lady on her birthday and praised her call for well-wishers to channel funds toward completing the National Library in Abuja, instead of spending on cakes or newspaper adverts.
Obi, however, remarked that while the appeal was well-meaning, it underscored a glaring failure in Nigeria’s governance.
“What kind of country must beg for charity to build the very temple of knowledge? What kind of leaders waste trillions on luxury and vanity, while the National Library, our intellectual furnace, remains abandoned in the capital?” he queried.
Obi explained that although he often urged well-wishers to redirect advert funds toward school infrastructure, such efforts were only meant to supplement, not substitute, the government’s duty.
“Such gestures were never meant to replace the government’s duty but to complement it,” he said, adding that “The state still bore the responsibility of providing those essentials.”
The former governor of Anambra State pointed out the irony of a country rich in resources, regularly spending on private jets, lavish official residences, and foreign trips yet relying on private donations to complete a vital national institution.
“Serious nations treat libraries as sacred. But here we reduce them to afterthoughts, begging bowls, or birthday tokens,” he added.
He also emphasised that Nigeria’s future rests not in luxury or political showmanship, but in education and the empowerment of its citizens.
“If Nigeria will rise, it will not be on the wings of jets or the splendour of mansions, but on the strength of minds formed in classrooms and nourished in libraries. Until then, the lament remains true – we are finished,” he said.
The ICIR reports that the First Lady, who marked her birthday on September 21, publicly urged friends and supporters to channel their birthday gifts toward the National Library project.
Despite receiving several budgetary allocations, the National Library remains incomplete close to two decades after construction began in 2006, under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, with a planned completion period of 22 months. The project was suspended in 2012 due to funding issues.
However, President Tinubu’s administration announced the resumption of the construction, with a focus on completing the first phase of the project, which includes basements, ground, and two upper floors, plus exterior fencing.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa made the announcement in March that the construction of the first phase of the National Library would commence by June this year.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.