President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, inaugurated the National Assembly Library and Resource Centre in Abuja.

The centre, named after Mr Tinubu, was part of activities to mark the one-year anniversary of the present administration in office.

The executive secretary of the Centre, Henry Nwawuba, described the library as a citadel of knowledge management, information storage, digitisation, archiving, legislative research, and training.

He said that the environment of parliament was a very temporal environment as legislators come and go, saying the facility would be for both lawmakers and the staffers.

“It is our hope that all the activities they have performed during their tenure will be carefully documented and managed for posterity.

“It is critical, too, that we support our legislators with the ability to engage in critical thinking and use the parliament as an engine room for legislative innovations.

“All of these things are some of what will come to bear as this National Assembly library takes off.

“It is not just a physical library we have on this premises; we also have access to a world of materials, resources, books, publications, and so many other things,” he said.

Mr Nwawuba said the facility was going to be a digitalised environment with a very robust e-library and many other facilities, like a multi-purpose hall.

Speaking on the architectural design of the library, the general manager of Dumez Nigeria Limited, Georges Nehme, said that the library was designed to make research resources readily available to the members of the National Assembly and the upcoming generations.

He said that Dumez, the constructors of the Second Niger Bridge in Onitsha, ensured the uniqueness of the library and resource centre by ensuring it was designed to be eco-friendly.

“The building’s glazed elevations, as well as roof skylights, have been designed to bring natural day light to most of the library spaces.

“All library visitors will enjoy the calm environment of the reading areas as well as the wide and beautiful circulation areas of the library.

“In addition, the library has been equipped with an advanced automation system, audiovisual technology and a cost-effective cooling system,” he said.

In his remarks, the president of the Nigeria Library Association (NLA), Dominic Umokaro, said the library was a source of pride for the library profession.

“We need to build a nation that is a leading nation and for us to be a leading nation, we must be a reading nation,” he said.

He said only readers could become good leaders, saying that with the example of the National Assembly Library, there would evolve a leadership of readers committed to research and innovation.

The chairman of the House Committee on Library Trust Fund, Yusuf Galambi (NNPP-Kano State), said that the aim of the library was to educate the National Assembly members, all Nigerians and even foreign researchers.

“The National Assembly Library is full of almost everything you need to know about Nigeria and the Nigerian parliament,’’ he said.

(NAN)