…Says fundraising will end in December 2025
…Project not tied to 2027
First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, on Tuesday said the Oluremi Tinubu Foundation funds for the construction of the national library have received a total of N20.4 billion as of date.
The First Lady disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing State House Journalists at the banquet hall of the presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking on why she embarked on the project, disclosed that she sat on the committee of Education for 12 years, and the Library was not on the table under the envelope budget system adopted by Nigeria.
She said, ” the library shaped her future”
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The library, which was started during former President Shehu Shagari, was abandoned along the way.
On how the fund will be managed, she said,
” Mine is to raise the funds and hand them over to the government.
” The signatories will be the Minister of Education and the Secretary of the National Library”.
The First Lady, who went on a memory lane, noted how she previously raised N50m on her 44th birthday and N200m on her 50th birthday, to support various projects impacting the poor, including the Sickle Cell challenge.
She drew attention to the previous efforts made to help a school in faraway Liberia as part of her philanthropic activities.
Quoting from the book of Isaiah 58 and verse 6, declared that her dream for Nigeria is to see a nation that attracts people from all other parts of the globe.
Recall that the First Lady had initiated the fundraising as part of her 65th birthday anniversary, she said, because of her love for education.
She used the opportunity to debunk claims that the fundraising effort is tied to her husband, President Bola Tinubu’s reelection bid in 2027.
This is even as she disclosed that she has so far raised N20.4 billion out of the projected N100 billion to complete the 11-floor building, started by the Shehu Shagari’s administration of 1981.
The First Lady, while responding to criticisms over the project, said the fundraiser is aimed at supporting the long-stalled National Assembly Library project, which she said is close to her heart, as a teacher, as well as the impact the library had on her life while growing up.
“This is not the first time I have raised funds for causes close to my heart. For my 45th birthday, I raised ₦50 million to complete the National Sickle Cell Foundation Center, which has since become fully operational. For my 50th birthday, I raised ₦200 million for the New Era Foundation.”
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She also emphasised the importance of collective action for national development. “What is wrong with drawing attention to areas of need and inclusion? Helping to rebuild does not have a political undertone; it’s our duty as citizens to contribute meaningfully to society. I even donated to the post-war rebuilding of schools in Liberia,” she affirmed.
Echoing the words of President John F. Kennedy, Tinubu urged Nigerians to adopt a spirit of service: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
This should guide our actions. Like President Kennedy said, ‘Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of what divides us.’” She added that the biblical exhortation in Isaiah 58:6 has inspired her lifelong commitment to serving the nation.
The National Library project, initiated in 1981 and approved with funding in subsequent years, had faced decades of funding challenges with the budget escalating from ₦8.2 billion under the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1981 to over 70 billion as of 2023.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration had expressed readiness to complete the project, declaring that it wants to ” take the bull by the horn,” but funding challenges hampered the effort
“I have played my part in this project, and believe Nigerians can raise the funds needed to complete the library. This is not just a project but a national treasure that will serve generations to come,” she stated,
She projected that her fundraising efforts are aimed at raising about 50% of the N200b needed to finish it.
In gratitude, the First Lady acknowledged notable contributors, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and his wife, former President General Buhari, several former first ladies, Senate President and his wife, Speaker of the House of Representatives and his wife, and members of the National Assembly, governors’ forum and governors’ spouses forum, security chiefs and their wives, business moguls like Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Arthur Eze, Tony Elumelu, Femi Otedola, among countless well-wishers.
Concluding her address, the First Lady called on all Nigerians to rise up and play their part in national rebuilding. “A grain of sand and a drop of water can become a mighty ocean. Together, Nigerians can transform the country,” she declared.
