The federal government, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has approved N15 billion as first tranche for the construction of the 15-year-old abandoned national library in Abuja.
The project located on Plot 35, Cadastral Business District, in the Federal Capital Territory, was awarded to Reynolds Construction Company in 2006 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for N8.9 billion with an initial completion period of four years.
The firm was said to have requested an upward review of the contract because of the decision of the Federal Government to incorporate new technology into the building.
The administration of former President Umaru Yar’Adua then approved an upward review to the tune of N18 billion.
The spokesman for the federal ministry of education, Mr. Ben Goong, said in an interview the building would require N50 billion to be completed.
However, TETFund, in a post on its website, said it had set aside N15 billion for the construction to take off.
“On our own part, we have set aside the first tranche of about N15bn already in our coffers to be deployed as soon as the approval from the revised cost is granted by the federal executive council.
“For us in the tertiary education, the library is where learning takes place, including research, teaching materials and resources that students access to improve themselves, are all deposited for record purposes. Library is usually the centre of any academic institution,” the executive secretary of TETFund, Mr. Sonny Echono.
