Desolation, dilapidation and total neglect can only be used to describe the condition of Enugu state library, Nsukka.
Cited at few kilometres from University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN and few metres away from the secretariate of Nsukka local government, the library was said to be centre of intellectual research but for the sorry state in which it has found itself.
WITHIN NIGERIA visits the library
When our reporter visited the library recently, there was a tale of neglect and dilapidation in the library.
Pretending to be a student who wants to go into research our reporter was asked to pay N1,000 and bring a recent passport for registration.
A library attendant who spoke to our reporter (names withheld) said the patronage of the library has drastically reduced.
“Before now, we usually had an average of seven new students every week. That time, we have swelling students here. But today, the situation has changed. We don’t have much of researchers and library users here.”
Lamenting further, the staff explained that ” sometimes in a day, we just have about three persons who came to read or make research here.”
Asked what could be the cause of the decline in patronage, the staff said that ” we don’t have enough modern books here. Majority of the books here are obsolete in context.
“Another one is that if you look at our shelves, they are almost empty. It is long we took delivery of books from the state government.”
WITHIN NIGERIA was also told that the new era of digitalization and smart phones have literally made the library redundant.
Leaking roof, poor infrastructure in the library
Findings by our reporter showed that Enugu Public library in Nsukka zone also suffer from severe such as structural decay, lack of funding, and obsolete book collections despite multi-million Naira budgetary allocations over the years.
The buildings feature leaky roofs, sagging ceilings, cracked floors, and shattered windows.
The facilities also lack basic amenities like functional toilets, electricity, and proper ventilation, forcing some readers to use hand fans or read outside.
Again our reporter equally gathered that shelves mostly contain torn, outdated publications from the 1960s and 1970s rather than modern research materials.
Due to chronic underfunding, the library has also featured a lack of personnel and unpaid workers, degrading daily services.
The library sits near a noisy commercial hub with loud transport companies and market hawkers.
Reader narrates experience
One of the students of a tertiary institution in the area who spoke to our reporter under anonymity said she usually comes there to read her own books, not the one provided by the state.
According to her “I usually come here to read my books, not necessarily to pick a book from the library. My compound is very noisy and so, I have to come here for serenity.”
The student, however appealed to the government to do every thing possible to equip the library so as to make it functional.
“When I was in secondary school some years ago, I sually came here to read newspapers but today, as you can see, there no new newspaper here. As a matter of fact, you can’t even see this year’s newspaper publication here.”
Findings by our reporter showed that the same situation is seen around all the zonal state libraries in the state.
In Ibagwa-Aka town, a state library which is few metres away from the secretariate of Igbo-Eze South local government area has gone into comatose. As a matter of fact, but for the rusted signpost along the road leading to the library, there is no sign of such of existence of such facility in the area.
Our findings showed that the facility has long been closed down due to lack of funding and infrastructure.
However, all efforts to get the reactions of the state commissioner for Education Prof Ndubueze Mbah proved abortive as he was not picking his calls.
