Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi has taken issue with First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s request that her birthday well-wishers donate towards the completion of the National Library in Abuja, calling it a reflection of misplaced priorities in Nigeria’s governance
In a statement shared on X on Sunday, Obi said the First Lady’s appeal was “noble and selfless” on the surface but revealed a deeper problem — the government’s neglect of its duty to fund critical national infrastructure.
“I join millions of Nigerians in wishing Her Excellency, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, a happy birthday. May God Almighty, who has been with her all these years, grant her many more healthy, fruitful, and happy years,” Obi wrote. “However, I was struck by irony reading her request: that instead of cakes or newspaper adverts, well-wishers should donate toward completing the National Library in Abuja.”
He criticised the idea that the country must depend on donations to complete its main library while public funds are frequently spent on luxury items and foreign trips.
“It is shocking that, in our present circumstances, while billions are easily found for jets, yachts, unused mansions, endless trips abroad, and other frivolities, the nation must rely on birthday donations to complete its own National Library,” Obi stated.
The former Anambra governor lamented what he described as a national disregard for education, saying a country that treats libraries as afterthoughts cannot make meaningful progress.
“What kind of leaders waste trillions on luxury and vanity, while the National Library — our intellectual furnace — remains abandoned in the capital? Serious nations treat libraries as sacred; but here we reduce them to afterthoughts, begging bowls, or birthday tokens,” he said.
Obi concluded that Nigeria can only move forward by prioritising education over luxury spending.
“If Nigeria will rise, it will not be on the wings of jets or the splendour of mansions, but on the strength of minds formed in classrooms and nourished in libraries. Until then, the lament remains true — we are finished,” he declared.
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