The Nigerian government has proposed N50 billion for the completion of National Library headquarters in Abuja, 13 years after the project was first conceived. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, disclosed this on Friday at the seventh edition of the Weekend Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Senate in October 2017 called on the government to prioritise the completion of the permanent site of the National Library in order to mitigate losses on the project, describing its delay as a national embarrassment.
The Senate also frowned at the fact that 57 years after independence and with trillions of naira sunk into the development of Abuja, the National Library still operates from a rented building because it does not have a permanent site.
The present national library headquarters is in a sorry state, as it is challenged by dilapidated facilities, outdated books and other anomalies. Mr Adamu said the National Library project-cost was N8 billion when it was first awarded in 2006 and was last reviewed upwards to N18 billion in 2013.
“You may have been aware that the project cost was awarded in 2006 at a total cost of N8 billion By 2013, the project cost was reviewed upward to N18 billion. Work was, however, stopped at the end of 2013 due to poor-funding,” the minister said. ”When this administration come into power, the contractor submitted a new bill of N78 billion to complete the project and we set up a committee to evaluate the project. This committee has submitted a bill of N50 billion,” he said.
According to the minister, the National Library of Nigeria (NLN) is expanding its branches across the country as well as rehabilitating existing ones.
Pix: National library of Nigeria
