Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said
criticisms against the establishment of the Olusegun Obasanjo
Presidential Library, Abeokuta have motivated him to complete the
multi-billion naira project.
He said this at a regional forum organised by the
Institute for African Culture and International Understanding in
Abeokuta on Thursday.
Obasanjo believed he would bequeath an enduring legacy to humanity through the library.
Notable Nigerians, including Nobel Laureate, Prof.
Wole Soyinka, had condemned the library, which hosts a United Nations
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation Category 2 Institute.
The critics noted that the ex-president’s fund-raiser
for the project, while still in power, contradicted his anti-corruption
crusade.
Obasanjo, however, expressed enthusiasm about the ongoing construction and progress of the library, despite the criticisms.
He spoke after the former Executive Secretary,
National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, and the
Director, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Prof.
Isaac Albert, delivered their papers on how to promote African cultural
expressions and diversities.
Obasanjo believed the library would enhance research
works, advance the frontiers of knowledge and provide relevant
information for the overall benefit of humanity.
He said, “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 also stressed the need for Africans to
appreciate their culture and project the continent’s cultural
diversities to the outside world.
He said, “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.”
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