National Library Gets Five More Years of Anunobi’s Reforms — But Headquarters Still Unfinished

Abuja — Five years after she was first named to lead Nigeria’s apex library body, Prof. Chinwe Veronica Anunobi has been handed a final term to finish what she started. President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday approved her renewal as CEO of the National Library of Nigeria, keeping her in charge until 2031.

The decision ties Anunobi to three clocks. First, the one she set: between 2021 and 2026 she rolled out Nigeria’s first National Repository, a Newspaper and Magazine Locator, and a National Virtual Library that went public in January 2025. Second, the one she inherited: the N37 billion National Library Headquarters in Abuja, begun in 2006 and still under construction 17 years later. Third, the one she wrote: a 2025–2030 Strategic Plan that now becomes her job to deliver.

What She Built
Anunobi’s first term moved the National Library from paper to platform. The National Repository of Nigeria went live in 2023. The Index and Abstract to Nigerian Newspapers began in 2024. The National Virtual Library opened to users this year. Each project shifted the library’s weight from shelves to servers.

What’s Still Unbuilt
The headquarters is the gap in the record. Conceived as Nigeria’s knowledge citadel, the Abuja building has outlived four administrations. Anunobi’s renewal now makes her answerable for its completion and for migrating heritage collections from 34 state branches — many stored without climate control — into the new site.

What the Presidency Wants
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said the renewal would “ensure continuity in the implementation of ongoing reforms, completion of the National Library Headquarters project, and execution of the 2025–2030 Strategic Plan.” In plain terms: finish the building, move the books, run the plan.

The LightRay! File: National Library of Nigeria

• CEO: Prof. Chinwe V. Anunobi | Term: 2021–2026, renewed 2026–2031, final
• Big Build: HQ Abuja – Started 2006. Status: Uncompleted.
• Digital Wins: National Repository 2023, Virtual Library 2025
• Next Due: 2025–2030 Strategic Plan; relocation of 34 state heritage collections
• To Watch: Budget releases for HQ, public access metrics for virtual library

The LightRay! Bottom Line

Continuity is the word the Presidency used. In practice it means five more years to close a 17-year gap between promise and building.

For the student in Maiduguri who needs a journal article, or the researcher in Lagos tracing a 1978 newspaper, the National Library isn’t a press release. It’s a door. Whether that door is concrete or digital, Anunobi’s final term will decide if it opens.