No going back on presidential Library project –Obasanjo

Ex-president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday said he thrives more in controversy adding that criticisms against the establishment of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, his pet project has spurred him to continue with the controversial project.

Several Nigerians including Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka among others had serially criticized Chief Obasanjo for embarking on the project for which state governors, ministers and other public officers donated tax payers money to.

However Obasanjo who spoke at a regional forum organised by the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding in Abeokuta, said the barrage of criticisms that trailed the Library project spurred him to move on with the multi-billion project.

Expressing optimism about the project, the former president said the library on completion would help research into various fields of human endeavour, including African culture.

He lamented that the project is being blindly criticized by so many people who do not understand what it is all about.

Said he: “I believe that gradual by gradual, as my soldiers will say it, people are now knowing what a presidential library is all about. As time goes, we will get to know all that it encompasses. It is a museum in a way, it is an archive in a way, it is an educational institution in a way, it is an information centre in

a way. Those who have criticised, I think they have only inspired us to get it completed and make it available for use of humanity.”

Obasanjo who holds the traditional war title of Balogun of Owu, said among other objectives, the gargantuan library project would help to disseminate the rich African heritage and culture to the outside world.

“I am very proud of our culture. I know that it does not matter how much or how well I speak Queen’s English, there will still be my Yoruba accent in it. The only thing you will not be able to criticise is my Yoruba because there will be no English accent in it. And I don’t see any reason why we should be ashamed of our culture”, he added.

March 02, 2012