Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, June 17, 2004.
Obasanjo plans presidential library in Otta
Oguwike Nwachuku
Deputy
Editor
(News)
A multi-million naira structure that would
house a Presidential Library and Museum is soon to sprout in Otta, a sprawling
industrial location in Ogun State.
It will sit on a 36 acres piece of land and
is fashioned after those founded and facilitated by several former presidents
of the United States.
Presidential Senior Special Adviser on
Research and Strategy, Ad’Obe Obe, is co-coordinating the project while
Aso Rock Chief Librarian Nyaknno Osso will play a vital role in its setting up.
The choice of Otta is tailored to fit into
the American experience where former presidents site such monuments either in
their hometowns or favourite places of abode. Obasanjo has a sprawling
investment interest in Otta spanning agriculture, education and hospitality.
Although the contractor and the estimated
cost of the project are yet to be made public, it was learnt that the library
would preserve the legacies, manuscripts, audio-visual materials and other
historical items relating to the President and his forays into the military and
political consciousness of the nation and the world.
Among former American Presidents who have
such monuments are George Bush Snr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), Harry S.
Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan,
Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford,
Lyndon B. Johnson and Jefferson Davis, the confederate President of the US for
whom Beauvoir was built to preserve his legacy.
In the US, the Office of Presidential Libraries
administers the facilities, which are part of the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA).
Presidential spokesperson Remi Oyo denied
knowledge of any such project, but reliable sources confirmed that the proposed
Otta Presidential Library and Museum would similarly be administered by the
Office of the President, through the National Archives.
The National Directorate for Museums and
Monuments will have a hand in the administration of the project since some
antiquities would be required to boost the profile of the museum.
According to sources in the Presidency, who
would not want to be named, Obasanjo came out with the idea as a follow-up to
the Obasanjo Leadership Forum (OLF), an intellectual group formed to distill
ideas for empowerment and development of leadership potential in Africa. OLF
was established shortly after he left the military and vacated office as Head
of State in 1979.
The idea of the library, however, was
reportedly given impetus by the antecedents of American presidents who
conceived it to preserve the legacies of their life time exploits and those of
their administration.
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and
Museum hosts document, photographs, virtual exhibits, audio files, oral
histories, digital archives, kids page and educational materials, among others.
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and
Museum preserves the records of Hoover, the 31st US President. Dwight
Eisenhower Library has a pictorial memorial in the lobby and preserves, among
others, 23 million pages of manuscripts.
Clinton Presidential Centre in Little Rock,
Arkansas, when completed, is expected to showcase the legacy of his
administration, his memoirs and foundation.
