ABUJA — Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has faulted First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s birthday request that well-wishers donate toward completing the National Library in Abuja, describing it as a damning reflection of Nigeria’s misplaced priorities.
In a post on his X account on Sunday, Obi congratulated the First Lady on her birthday but said her appeal highlighted government’s failure to meet its basic responsibilities.
“I join millions of Nigerians in wishing Her Excellency, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, a happy birthday… 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,” Obi wrote.
The former Anambra governor said while the gesture seemed noble on the surface, it exposed a deeper tragedy — a government that can easily fund luxuries but relies on charity to complete “the very temple of knowledge.”
“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,” he stated.
Obi lamented that such priorities reflect Nigeria’s chronic neglect of education.
“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.
He concluded that Nigeria’s future depends on investing in education rather than luxury.
“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,” Obi declared.
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