The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticized the Nigerian government’s handling of national priorities following a birthday appeal made by Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu.
In a statement shared on his X handle, Obi congratulated Mrs. Tinubu on her birthday and praised her for urging well-wishers to donate toward completing the long-abandoned National Library in Abuja, instead of spending on celebratory cakes or newspaper adverts.
However, the former Anambra State governor said the appeal, though well-intentioned, starkly exposed the failures of governance in Nigeria.
“What kind of country must beg for charity to build the very temple of knowledge?” Obi asked. “What kind of leaders squander trillions on luxury and vanity while the National Library—our intellectual furnace—lies abandoned in the capital?”
Construction of the National Library began over a decade ago but remains unfinished despite repeated budget allocations.
Obi highlighted the irony of a nation rich in resources—often spent on private jets, official residences, and lavish international trips—having to rely on private donations to fund a vital national institution.
Recalling his tenure as governor, Obi noted that while he encouraged well-wishers to redirect advertising funds toward school infrastructure, such gestures were always meant to complement, not replace, government responsibility.
“Such acts were never intended to substitute for the government’s duty but to support it,” he said. “The state must still provide these essentials.”
Mrs. Tinubu’s call for friends and supporters to channel birthday funds toward the National Library project has drawn mixed reactions. While some praise it as a sign of humility and public spirit, others, like Obi, view it as symptomatic of a deeper governance crisis.
“Serious nations regard libraries as sacred,” Obi said. “But here, they are reduced to afterthoughts, begging bowls, or mere birthday tokens.”
He warned that Nigeria’s future does not lie in luxury or political pageantry but in education and empowerment.
“If Nigeria is to rise, it will not be on the wings of jets or the splendor of mansions but on the strength of minds formed in classrooms and nourished in libraries,” he said. “Until then, the lament remains true—we are finished.”
The Presidency has yet to respond to Obi’s remarks.
