The Federal Ministry of Education has set aside N50bn to rebuild the dilapidated National Library headquarters in Abuja.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who confirmed this in a statement on Sunday, said the government was pursuing alternative sources of funding for the library, especially from “special intervention funding windows.”

Adamu noted that the ministry had received several complaints over the abandoned National Library headquarters, adding that renovation work would begin as soon as approval was given.

“Efforts are on to complete the National Library headquarters.  You may have been aware that the project was awarded in 2006 at a total cost of N8bn.  By 2013, the project cost was reviewed upward to N18bn. Work was, however, stopped by the end of 2013 due to poor funding.

“When this administration came to power, we set up a committee to evaluate the project.  This committee has submitted a bill of N50bn. We have forwarded the report to the Bureau of Public Procurement for further appraisal.

“The recommendation of the BPP will be forwarded to the Federal Executive Council for consideration.  While we await these processes to be completed, we are pursuing alternative sources of funding especially from special intervention funding windows.

“It is important to state that the rising cost of the project is due largely to exchange rate fluctuations among other variables. Furthermore, the contracts for the renovation of the Lagos, Benue, Nasarawa, Imo, Adamawa, and Plateau branches of the National Library have also been awarded while others will come on stream in 2020″, he said.

The minister said new branches of the library would be open in Delta, Anambra, Ekiti, Kebbi, Kogi and Jigawa states.