The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has told the Federal Government to take full responsibility on the completion of the abandoned National Library of Nigeria project in Abuja, explaining that such a national institution should not be left to private charity.
This development was made known in a statement signed by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the party, who reacted to the recent comments by First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, on her intention to support the library’s completion as part of her birthday celebrations.
While appreciating the First Lady’s gesture, the ADC said,“The National Library is a living repository of our collective memory and intellectual heritage. It is the custodian of Nigeria’s story, culture, research, and knowledge production. It is not just another building,” the party said.
The Party also maintained that the library was established by an Act of Parliament in 1964 as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Education and shouldn’t be made the first lady’s pet project.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) argued that the project’s completion and long-term maintenance must be prioritised through transparent, sustainable, and predictable budgetary provisions.
“Now that Mrs Tinubu has shown interest in the National Library, what is required is not personal charity, but presidential attention. The First Lady should use her influence to impress upon President Tinubu the urgency of completing this project through budgetary allocations,” the statement further stated.
The party additionally noted that responsibility for the library’s funding was at some point placed in the hands of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), which, it said, explained the absence of direct budgetary allocations for the project in the 2024 and 2025 budgets.
The ADC further declared that the nation’s intellectual heritage cannot rest on acts of benevolence, while being deliberately neglected in the appropriation process.
The Party appreciated the First Lady for drawing attention to the abandoned project but specifically said it’s not under her jurisdiction to renovate the national library.
