‘Completion of National Library headquarters, my biggest challenge’

Professor Lenrie O. Aina is the National Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria. Here, he talks about the effort made to complete the National Library headquarters in Abuja, the reading campaign, and more. Excerpts: Bookshelf: What would you say has been your biggest challenge since you became National Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of […]

Professor Lenrie O. Aina is the National Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria. Here, he talks about the effort made to complete the National Library headquarters in Abuja, the reading campaign, and more. Excerpts:

Bookshelf: What would you say has been your biggest challenge since you became National Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria in 2016?

Professor Lenrie O. Aina: My biggest challenge has been the completion of our permanent headquarters Just a stone’s throw from our temporary site. It is an edifice that would probably be one of the best national libraries in the world. We have been pursuing it. In fairness to the government, they have been committed to it. The building commenced in 2006 and it was abandoned in 2014. Since then nothing has been done to it.

Bookshelf: What caused its abandonment?

Aina: The contractors said they (previous government) didn’t give them money and they stopped it. Since then, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has been going around to make ensure everything is in its proper place. We were made to understand that it will cost us N78bn. But the Ministry of Education negotiated with the contractor and they agreed on N50bn. We are hoping that the government will release about N10bn for us to start it. That has been our major problem.

Bookshelf: When is the project’s completion envisaged?

Aina: I have a feeling that, because of its commitment, this government will complete it before its tenure ends. So we are looking at 2020 or 2022.

Bookshelf: What is the National Library’s annual budget and what are your plans to improve reading culture in Nigeria?

Aina: When you add salaries to it, our annual budget is about three or four billion naira. As for readership promotion, we are funded by the government. It is done in all the 36 states including the F.C.T. We target different strata of the society. When we first started, we were dealing with only schoolchildren. Then we expanded it to include expectant mothers because we understand that when mothers read, their unborn children are likely to enjoy reading. We also went to motor parks where we hoped to target passengers waiting to leave to their various destinations, including drivers and conductors. From there we moved to correctional centers. We have been to at least one prison in each state. We also went to rural communities and NYSC camps where we tried to create awareness for reading.

Bookshelf: What is the National Library’s approach to the reading campaign like and how successful has it been so far?

Aina: It has been successful so far because we have about 30 branches all over the country. So we try to involve the branch heads. We plan from the headquarters and they do the execution by trying to create awareness on the need to read. We also demonstrate why they need to do the reading.

Bookshelf: In what ways do you demonstrate?

Aina: We give them books and shelves and try to involve the local community to support. We also hold competitions for primary and secondary school students and give out prizes. We do all these to stimulate their interest.

Bookshelf: What are the major challenges in this reading campaign?

Aina: Funding is a major challenge. Just like Oliver Twist who always wants more, the government is trying their best for us but we still need more funding. We are trying to partner with other non-governmental organizations to go deeper and reach a larger audience.

Bookshelf: What is the update on the campaign in correctional centers? How do you go about encouraging them?

Aina: We visited the inmates and interacted with them. We found out that some of them were ignorant of why they were in prison and didn’t know the offense they committed was serious. So they all agreed that they needed more information to avoid such situations in the future. Some of them are preparing for WAEC, NECO AND JAMB. We volunteered to buy them the materials they needed.

The first time we went to correctional centers, we got various types of textbooks. There were those for those who were not educated, those at primary school and secondary school level, and even people who are professionals. We also told them to let us know the books they need, so we can provide them.

Bookshelf: What types of books have they asked for so far?

Aina: I was fortunate to be in Ilesha prison, Osun State. We asked our head of the branch there to collect the list of books the inmates need. They requested all kinds of books, but most were for those who needed to prepare for WAEC, NECO and JAMB. Some wanted novels. We also had those who wanted to enhance their tailoring skills. We want to fund the prisons and buy up to 50,000 books for each state.

Bookshelf: What kind of budget goes into the campaign?

Aina: It depends on how much we are given every year. There were years we were given up to N80m or N60m. This year, because of the 40 percent budget cut, we were given N45m from the Federal Government for the reading campaign. I’m sure when it comes to a full year, they will give us more than that.

Bookshelf: The library is supposed to have three copies of every book published in the country. But some authors have complained that despite sending in their works, they don’t see them on the National Library shelves. Why is this the case?

Aina: It doesn’t happen. National library is a national heritage. We are bound by law to collect three copies from authors. If it is a state government, we collect 10 copies. If it is the Federal Government, it is 25 copies. That is what the law prescribes. When we collect these books, we ensure we put them back on the shelves. We have about 30 branches like I said earlier. We send the books to our various branches depending on where the book came from. So, we send the books to our branches. An author could go to his home branch of the library and not find his book there. So, what we do now is have a copy in that library before sending to others.

Bookshelf: How would you describe the relationship between the library and the writing community? Asides encouraging writers to donate three copies of their work, what effort has the library made to promote creative writing?

Aina: In this library, we have a very good relationship with the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). We follow them closely on everything they do. We use that partnership to penetrate the authors. So, the authors know they have to give us three copies of their book because they have a close relationship with us.

Bookshelf: What effort is the library making to ensure people are able to apply for International Standard Book Number (ISBN) online? 

Aina: We used to give out ISBN manually. But now we have gone further to ensure that people obtain it on our website, www.nff.org.ng. Our site has instructions on how to obtain it, which is usually within 48 hours. If there is no network problem, you can get it under two hours because you get to interact with us online, and once we assign you a number you pay with your ATM card. Once you pay, you get the number.

Bookshelf: How do you train and retrain your staff to ensure they remain effective?

Aina: We ensure they attend conferences regularly, both local and international. We also make sure they attend seminars and workshops. In respect to training, we are not lacking in this area. The trainings are not only for librarians. We ensure other support staff are included so they can be very effective.

Bookshelf: What fresh efforts are you making to improve on how the National Library operates?

Aina: I just mentioned we have made obtaining ISBN easier. Instead of traveling long distances, you can obtain it in your offices and homes. The National library has the highest number of Nigerian publications in the world because of legal deposits. We are in the process of digitizing our publications so they would be available to anyone in any part of the world. If you want to access our books, you have to go through a card catalogue which is archaic. So, we are trying to have an online public access catalogue where you can get our books.