Our nation has built houses of worship for both Abrahamic and continues to maintain them. But what is supposed to be our citadel of knowledge languishes in disrepair.
In 2004, the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo conceived the idea of a national library, and why not? The federal capital territory (FCT) already housed many of the nation’s symbolic and strategic monuments, édifices and institutions. So a national library to warehouse the knowledge in the nation will complete the adornment of our seat of government and capital city with every key structure and facility needed in a modern society. The idea was bold. The proposal was audacious. The vision was lofty. All necessary arrangements were put in place. Modalities were fashioned out, and work began in earnest. The project was scheduled to be completed in record time.
But the plan did not materialise. The project was abandoned. Nineteen years after billions of naira were spent, there is no library. All we have is an abandoned giant empty uncompleted structure that not only reminds you of what could have been, but also our collective contempt for education and knowledge. Successive governments from Jonathan to Buhari made the usual rigmarole and song and dance about completing the project through different funding arrangements but nothing came out of it. The latest in the government’s perfunctory effort to complete the project is the first lady, Oluremi Tinubu, soliciting funds for the completion of the project. To mark her 65th birthday, she appealed to Nigerians to donate towards the completion of the edifice.
It’s either that our first lady is mocking Nigerians and insulting their sensibility or she lacks self-awareness. Many Nigerians are finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that the wife of a president, who by all accounts has been wasteful, frivolous and insensitive to their plight, is asking them to donate towards the building of the national library, effectively doing the job of her husband for him. Aside from the obvious, uninspiring, and troubling state of the nation under her husband, our beggar-in-chief herself has not exactly lived a life that would force a rethink in anyone, spur them to hearken to the call and contribute towards the completion of the project.
She is flamboyant and ostentatious. She is known to indulge in elaborate displays of wealth. During her visit to Lagos state a couple of weeks ago, she was chauffeured in over fifty vehicle convoys filled with diesel-guzzling SUVs worth billions of naira. Our country spends billions on frivolities. Billions are unaccounted for due to widespread corruption, and no one is prosecuted and punished. Yet, it cannot erect a library. It cannot finish a building that should embody knowledge, culture, and civic pride. Our nation has built houses of worship for both Abrahamic and continues to maintain them. But what is supposed to be our citadel of knowledge languishes in disrepair.
One would have thought the leaders of a nation that invests so much emotion and financial resources towards monuments of faith would extend such zeal and enthusiasm to a national library. But they have chosen neglect and indifference. They have sided with ignorance. They have made learning optional. They have decided to turn a public duty into a private fundraiser. A nation that cannot successfully build a library cannot build a legacy. A nation that treats its books and knowledge with abandon its future.
The National Library must not become another testament of our national contempt for knowledge. It must be finished and opened in the not-too-distant future. Not as a birthday fundraiser. Not as a political gesture. But as a statement of national renaissance. This is the appeal to the government. In the end, the question is simple: what kind of country do we want to bequeath to future generations? One that prioritises building churches and mosques but scoffs at knowledge and abandons its library? Or one that cakes books, knowledge, and learning into national characteristics? The answer can be found in the overgrown weeds and grimy floor of Abuja. The indignity and humiliation are encrusted in the creaky cranes and mould-stained walls. And the responsibility lies with those in power today.