•Nigeria deserves a truly modern national library, Long overdue

.Nigeria deserves a truly modern national library

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has indicated that approval is being sought for N50billion to complete the National Library headquarters in Abuja. In his own words: “Efforts are on to complete the National Library headquarters. You may have been aware that the project was awarded in 2006 at a total cost of N8billion. By 2013, the project cost reviewed upward to N18billion. Work was, however, stopped by the end of 2013 due to poor funding.”

Although this announcement by the minister came in the middle of electioneering, it is still welcomed. However, some of the efforts to complete the library ought to have been made earlier, especially as soon as Nigeria recovered officially from recession in 2017. But, it is better late than never.

The headquarters of the National Library moved to Abuja in 1995. For almost one quarter of a century, the library has been functioning in a rented facility. The constraints of operating in a rented facility not designed for the varied functions of a national library must have affected the effectiveness of the library in the last 23 years. It is, therefore, not surprising that the minister sounded sanguine in giving progress report, even at a time of high-wattage electioneering, on a matter that should have been of great concern to citizens.

Like the minister, we are enthusiastic about hearing an irrevocable verdict on government’s commitment to complete the library building.

Although it may sound fastidious to complain now about failure to complete the building while costs were less prohibitive between 1995 and now, we still welcome the decision of the Federal Ministry of Education to return to this important national assignment. A fully-formed and well-functioning national library is no longer a luxury for any nation in an ethos that is now globally referred to as the knowledge society. So, the contractor that is hired to complete the building should be made to know how urgent the project has become.

Government’s insistence on adherence to deadlines for delivery of the building by the contractor will save the country a lot of direly needed public funds, such as must have been lost on account of indecisiveness on the parts of governments between 2006 and 2019, during which the cost of completing the building rose from N8billion in 2006 to N18billion in 2013, and to N50billion at the beginning of 2019. To avoid further increase in cost, there should be no further delay on completion of the building.

National libraries are major cultural institutions in all societies that value generation and distribution of knowledge for empowerment of the state and citizens. Given the importance of Nigeria in Africa, the national library must not only be aesthetically pleasing to users and visitors as a fitting reflection of the country’s commitment to culture and knowledge, government must also commit to stocking and equipping the library to serve the purpose for which it is built.

Beyond completion of the physical part of the library, there should be adequate provision to stock the library with analog and digital collections to reflect the changes that technology has brought to improvement of library operations and promotion of literacy in other countries. Sincere efforts need to be made to employ well qualified staff for all areas of modern library operations and management, ranging from capacious reading section for citizens interested in research and reading, inter-library loans to other libraries in the country, professional curating of archives for rare collections to well-coordinated promotion of reading culture and literacy. Further, for the purpose of safety and protection of the high investment in the national library, the building ought to be fire proof.

It is also good for each state to have a functioning branch of the national library, to stimulate and sustain reading and research culture across the country.