Work is set to resume at Nigeria’s National Library on June 1st this year, 13 years after the construction firm handling the project vacated the premises due to a lack of funding.
Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa, stated this in Abuja, Nigeria, during a tour of the edifice.
He said that, based on directives from the Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, funds have been set aside through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, for the commencement of the project.
“The Tinubu administration has the political will to complete the project. We have some money now to move back to site. We have dedicated funds from TETFund to go back to site. And I’ve spoken to the consultant and the contractors that we have a deadline of moving back to site on or before June of this year, 2025,” the minister said.
He said the sponsorship for the project will be in phases to ensure successful completion, acknowledging that the project will require investment running into hundreds of billions of Naira.
“Even the quotation that the contractor quoted a few years ago to complete the project was about N90 billion.
“If we have to go back to do the costing, it will cost hundreds of billions. But what we have been able to do is to be innovative in moving this project forward. We will begin by finishing the Basement Level One, Basement Level Two, ground floor, first floor, second floor and external works,” he said.
He said other national monuments that were conceptualised together had been completed long ago, while the National Library remained unfinished.
“We have three national monuments in Abuja—the National Mosque, the National Ecumenical Centre, and the National Library. Ironically, almost 40 years after the National Mosque and the Ecumenical Centre were completed, we are still struggling to complete the National Library.
“This library is a crucial part of our human capital development, and now, with the highest political will, we are committed to pushing this project forward,” he said.
The National Librarian, Prof. Chinwe Anunobi, assured that the agency will work round the clock to ensure that the Minister’s direction on mobilisation to site is carried out.
“A directive has been issued for the contractor to return to the site, and we are committed to ensuring that the deadline is met,” she said.
She described the National Library as a repository of the nation’s heritage, including documents, reports, monographs, books, research papers, newspapers and legal documents.
The national library project was designed in 1981 and construction began in 2006 with Reynolds Construction Company, RCC, as the firm handling the project. It was expected to be completed by 2008, however, work stopped at the site in 2012.
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