The Senate has called on the Federal Government to prioritize the funding and completion of the permanent site of the National Library of Nigeria in order to mitigate losses accruable to the project, and to be more strategic in the award of contracts so that it embarks only on projects that can be adequately financed.

Presenting the motion titled “The preventable economic loss and national embarrassment arising from the failure of the Federal Government to complete the National Library after 11 years” at the plenary session of Tuesday, 31 October 2017, Sen. Gbenga Ashafa (APC: Lagos) noted that the National Library Building project was conceptualized by the Federal Government in 2002 and awarded to Reynolds Constructions Company (RCC) in 2006 for N8.590billion with a completion timeline of 22months. However, since its inception, the project has been poorly funded despite an upward review to the sum of N48billion in 2013 .

Sen. Ashafa stated that the failure to properly fund the National Library project would greatly affect the capacity of the country especially in the areas of historical documentation and archiving. He mentioned that the National Library was of critical importance to the country because it would serve as an important intellectual monument, representing the value placed on information, learning and history. In addition, Sen. Ashafa expressed dismay that despite the amount of money that had been expended for the project, the National Library of Nigeria still operated from a rented building, as it has no permanent site.

The Senate further mandated its Committee on Education to meet with the Ministers of Education, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the National Librarian to adopt an appropriation strategy that would ensure the completion of the project.