Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential library
The time is 2:10pm. There is a flurry of activities at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State. As guests hurried through, they could not, however, help pausing for a moment, as the din set up by hundreds of men doing hundreds of assigned tasks in the complex resounded. The architecture is just as stunning as the views: Incredible and very impressive.
“The building has been designed like an outstretched arm to welcome visitors,’’ said one of the tour guides. There are actually about four of them.
The sprawling edifice is not like your local library with its kiddies’ corner, magazines and overdue fines, this little-known institution is a hybrid of historical archive and public museum that tell the story of the man and his times.
Owned by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former President of Nigeria, the library is a historic, tourist and academic centre established as a national archive for preservation of documents and materials used by Obasanjo during his tenure as Nigeria’s President.
Conceived in 1988, the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library remained just an idea until 10 years later when the man in whose honour the project exists was released from incarceration over what turned out to be a phantom coup.
The Volkswagen bettle he rode during the civil wat
When Obasanjo was elected Nigeira’s second executive president, he established the Office of Presidential Libraries (Libraries, Research and Documentation) whose mission was in part to see the OOPL idea translated into reality.
The first of its kind in Nigeria and probably Africa, OOPL continues the distinguished tradition where a nation’s president bequeaths to posterity, historical documentation of his life’s achievements.
Established in 2005, the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library was fashioned after the United States’ Presidential Library system and culture. As the first on the Continent, the Library is expected to promote Nigeria on the world stage, and inspire other African nations in the advancement of democracy and preservation of the past for the future.
According to the library’s official brochure, “At a more local level the Library will teach children and young adults the essential concepts of leadership and citizenship through the example of a former president. By upholding the critical worth of good governance, the exhibitions should inspire future leaders of Nigeria.’’
The bicycle he rode to farm
It also states: “The OOPL aims at ‘preserving the past, capturing the present and inspiring the future’. It is a historic, touristic, recreational and academic centre, which is regarded as a national archive and a place for the preservation of presidential documents and historical items associated with the office and person of President Olusegun Obasanjo. It will house some cultural artifacts and feature essential vents in the Nigeria history and modern Africa history. The vision of the OOPL itself is to be an evergreen resource for stimulation of the ideas of democracy, good governance and leadership in Africa, with the mission to foster deeper understanding of the life, career and passion of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The OOPL seeks to facilitate reflection on best practices in public service; provide a clearer comprehension of development in Africa, the Commonwealth and the rest of the world, and collaborate with similar institutions in attaining these objectives.’’
The complex also houses The Green Legacy Resort. The resort is said to have over 100 rooms with facilities such as elevated swimming pools (Main & Children pool), a tennis court, a modern well-designed gym, amusement park, sauna among other facilities.
Pres Obasanjo conducting Bola Tinubu and Godswill Akpabio round the facility
Other facilities in the complex that are already functioning are the Auditorium, Amphitheatre, and the Adire and African Fabrics Centre. And just opposite to the church is another functioning facility, the Children’s Playground. This is a high rise mechanical contraption of automated circular steel and plastic seats which will certainly send children into whoops of joy and excitement.
A tour of the OOPL will take you up hills and valleys, benches, lakes and through parks. If you want to catch a bird’s eye view of Abeokuta, you have to go to the highest point in the complex, the Rock of Inspiration.
From a building that accommodates some Presidential artefacts such as OBJ’s frist car, a well-kept Volkswagen Beetle car, one official car, a jeep, helicopter and a miniature warship, the tour starts this afternoon.
When you walk through the building, Keke Ota is sure to strike you with nostalgia. The bicycle is a replica of what Chief Olusegun Obasanjo used to navigate his Ota farm when he left government in 1979, while he used the Volkswagen car to travel round the country during the war periods.
According to one of the tour guides, “discussions about the Nigeria civil war took place in the car.”
But of utmost importance among the relics is the Nissan Patrol Jeep. “It occupies a special place in Baba Obasanjo’s life. The vehicle conveyed him and his late wife Stella to the State Security Service (SSS) office, when he was implicated in the phantom coup of 1995. The vehicle also brought him back after three years, three months and three days in prison. The car was equally used to campaign before he became civilian president in 1999.”
Chief Tinubu and former head of government, Ernest Shonekan at the commisioning
A bridge links the main building and the others. The bridge is equally significant because of Obasanjo’s pedigree as a military engineer. A part of the museum was being renovated when The Guardian visited. However, as you step inside the main building, with two wings (A and B), the canonical voice of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo welcomes you.
In wing A, you’re sure to find relics around his humble beginning, military career and imprisonment. The first section is Nigeria before 1960. A video plays a documentary, where Obasanjo himself is the narrator. The documentary captures what happened before 1960. There is Nigeria from 1960 section. The political history of the country is also captured.
A section is devoted to Baba’s first steps. This is a pictorial representation of stages in Obasanjo’s life: childhood, school days and military career.
Another important section in the wing is that devoted to the Nigerian child. It is an interactive section and children are allowed to take pictures of their career dream. These pictures are transferred to a screen, where they are now processed. The aim of the section and the pictures is for them to be inspired to attain their dreams. Kids can re-enact important moments on sets replicating the Obasanjo Aso Rock Villa. Exhibits centered on the life of Stella Obasanjo and learn about her sense of dressing.
Our tour guide informed that the library would be stocked with books and educational material from all over the world to aid proper research.
To a foreign visitor, it offers a unique way to see Nigeria. It reflects choices made by the president himself, from its location to the initial contents of the museum. This is where the president wanted to be remembered and the displays reflect how he wanted to be remembered.
The idea of a Presidential Library started in the United States. Prior to the establishment, Presidential papers were kept as private property and later sold, destroyed, donated or preserved by heirs.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that Presidential papers- an important part of national heritage- should ultimately be made accessible to the public. The country passed into law in 1955, the Presidential Libraries Act to formalize this project for national archive of all American Presidential documents and materials in office.
By donating both his personal and Presidential papers to the Federal Government, he inspired the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. Since then, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) maintains the 13 official Presidential Libraries from Herbert Hoover onward.
The Presidential Records Act of 1978 established that the Presidential records that document the constitutional, statutory, and ceremonial duties of the President are the property of the United States Government. After the President leaves office, the Archivist of the United States assumes custody of the records. The Act allowed for the continuation of Presidential libraries as the repository for Presidential records.
The Presidential Libraries Act of 1986 also made significant changes to Presidential libraries, requiring private endowments linked to the size of the facility. NARA uses these endowments to offset a portion of the maintenance costs for the library.
Chief Obasanjo told The Guardian that the Presidential Library “is not in the line of things you do because you want to make money, so you could even say, what madness is this?” If you want to do something that is not popular and not easy, you must have a touch of madness to do it.
From the care in preserving such minute minutiae, including his primary school report cards, could it be that the young Obasanjo was prescient, knowing that he would grow to be president? “I didn’t know what I would become in life,” the former President had said. “I am what I am, a stupid village boy, born in the village raised in the village, grew up in the village and did a number of things by accident.
