By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

WHY is there no resounding applause for Mrs. Remi Tinubu’s selfless decision to use her 65th birthday to raise funds for the completion of the National Library headquarters, abandoned for so long that it seems a forlorn hope to expect it would ever be finished?

The trust deficit In dealing with the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration of which Mrs. Tinubu is a key member rubs off on anything the administration touches. The public doubts that her initiative would benefit the National Library the way it is intended.

More importantly, there is a pathway that has been established for achieving the project without doubtful and uncertain outcomes that the First Lady’s intervention may birth.

Was Mrs. Tinubu aware of the on-going initiative which commenced in 2019 and had crawled through the vaulted rungs of bureaucracy and almost at the final stages of getting the approval of the Federal Executive Council?

The abandoned National Library headquarters building has a long, sad, twisted story that encompasses government’s priorities, lack of concerns over waste of public funds, project cost over runs, and tepid efforts to steady wavering attention on the project.

Obasanjo’s administration awarded the project at N8.59 billion in 2006 with completion date of 22 months. It should have been ready by 2008 – 17 years ago.

By 2013, five years behind schedule, the cost had shut to N18 billion. Poor funding and the sliding in the value of the Naira were blamed for the delay.

2016: Key stakeholders reviewed the project to N38.8 billion. The construction firm submitted an updated bill of N78 billion. All parties to the project agreed on the new bill.

Funding challenges persisted. When the Minister of Education Dr. Adamu Adamu worked out the intervention of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, in 2022, the cost for finishing the project had become N100 billion.

The Guardian reported in May 2022, a Ministry of Education official, that “the supervising ministry (Federal Ministry of Education) has forwarded the proposal to the Bureau of Public Procurement for further appraisal, and the recommendations will be submitted to the Federal Executive Council for consideration. We will look for funding”.

With the 2023 transition barely a year away, the progress that had been made in getting the project on track stalled again. But the covered grounds create glimpses of hope that the project could be completed, especially if TETFund finances it.

Dr. Sonny Echocho, Executive Secretary of TETFund since 2022, was the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education until his retirement in 2022. He was at the Federal Ministry of Education from 2019-2022, the years during which the Ministry and TETFund worked on resurrecting the National Library headquarters building.

The TETFund route looks more feasible because the funds would be readily available instead of waiting for federal allocations which are unlikely to fund a single project to N50 billion in one fell swoop.

Doubts had trailed Mrs. Tinubu’s motives for involvement in the National Library and transparency in accounting for the money when collected. She did not disappointed. During lunch with the media on Tuesday, she announced that donations totalling N20.7 billion had been made, without mentioning what any single donor gave. Names of some donors were given, including former President Muhammadu Buhari who died in London on 13 July 2025.

The public wanted to know who gave what so that donors’ profile could be interrogated for their interests. She did not oblige us the information. She rather said donations would be accepted until December 2025.

According to Mrs. Tinubu, the 11-floor building will cost about N200 billion to complete.

“Now that Mrs. Tinubu has shown interest, what is required is not personal charity but presidential attention. The First Lady should use her influence to impress upon President Tinubu the urgency of completing this project through budgetary allocations,” a statement of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, read.

“This is not the first time I have raised funds for causes close to my heart. For my 45th birthday, I raised N50 million to complete the National Sickle Cell Foundation Centre, which has since become fully operational. For my 50th birthday, I raised N200 million for the New Era Foundation and other charities,” Mrs. Tinubu retorted to those who think her involvement was opportunistic.

“What is wrong in doing well or trying to build our country – if I could assist the post -war building process in Liberia by donating the Oluremi Tinubu Elementary and Junior Secondary School in Monte Serrado County in Liberia? What is wrong in drawing attention to some of the areas of need in our beloved Nation?”

Would the Federal Ministry of Education conclude the process that would see TETFund complete the building or leave it with the First Lady’s birthday donations?

However it goes, Mrs. Tinubu should be transparent with the donations that people are making for the National Library headquarters project.

Let a tussle between TETFund and the First Lady not be another reason for further delays in building the National Library headquarters.

Thanks very much, First Lady for bringing the National Library back to national conversations. You have really done more than raising N20.7 billion.

Finally…

THE unresolved mystery of $7 million, about N10.5 billion, walking into a bank vault without anyone claiming ownership is one of the most recent wonders of Nigerian banking. The court-ordered “due process” in forfeiting the money to the Federal Government is not a strong deterrent against money laundry. How do people have such money in cash? Why is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, shielding the owner(s) of the money? Unless the aim was to make money for government there is a crime still waiting to be cracked. Would EFCC wait for another $7 million to walk in or out of a bank vault before it acts?

FOR once the Governor of Abuja, as he once called himself, His Excellency, Barrister Nyesom Wike, finds his rabble-rousing inadequate to extricate him from a situation. No thanks to those who under-rate how generous in-laws, in this instance, Americans, can be. The story is that the property that the Wikes have in Florida, in the name of their three children, are gifts from Wike’s in-law, who is American.

Suzette, Wike’s wife, inherited the property which she decided to transfer to their children. Cash payments in millions of Dollars seemed to have elicited interests.

Omoyele Sowore, 2023 presidential candidate, has petitioned the authorities in Florida, seeking more clarity on Wike’s relationship with the property.

How did we get here? West African Weekly had in August quoted public documents showing that a property located at 113 Spring Creek Lane, Winter Springs, Florida, was in the name of Wike’s wife, Justice Eberechi Wike, and their three children – Joaquin, Jazmyne and Jordan. Sowore’s SaharaReporters gave the report wings.

Wike’s best response came from Lere Olayinka, his Senior Special Adviser on Media, who alleged that Sowore was funding his son’s elite education in the United States through questionable financial practices. This fight is still at “leg setting” stage.

THE audacity of certificate validation is laudable. How far can we go? Is the President aware that his appointees are going Into projects that can wake up issues that have been deemed interred? Will politicians’ certificates be validated? Will there be exemptions? We await October 6, the commencement date of “show your certificate” – a prime project of the Federal Ministry of Education. It could be an October to remember.

•ISIGUZ0 is a major commentator on minor issues.