- President Omokaro voices concern over government’s neglect of librarian employment, urges President Tinubu to address National Library completion
- He highlights the crucial role of librarians, criticizing the trend of disregarding their professionalism, hindering effective library management
Pastor Dominic Omokaro, President and Chairman of the Council of the Nigerian Library Association, has expressed concern over Nigeria’s lack of employment opportunities for professional librarians by various levels of government over the past three decades, with the federal government being the main culprit.
Speaking during a briefing in Abuja on Thursday regarding the association’s upcoming 62nd National Conference and Annual General Meeting in Port Harcourt, Omokaro urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in restoring hope to librarians by addressing the completion of the National Library building in Abuja.
He emphasized the importance of retaining librarians in their profession, citing the presence of over 14,000 registered librarians capable of managing library affairs across the country.
“This troubling trend not only undermines the expertise and professionalism of trained librarians but also hampers our nation’s effective management and development of library services.
“It is, however, unfortunate that employers of labour, and in particular government agencies and private organisations, do not respect the laws of the land, hence the gross abuse.”
He further said, “The City Libraries in Wuse and Gudu districts of Abuja have just one or two professional librarians, and the school library system in the FCT has collapsed as well for failure to employ librarians to man their school libraries.”
He rejected the submission that the use of the library is going into extinction with more people opting for Google and other apps, saying, “Google cannot replace library as it remains the best for studies and serves as the university of the poor man who cannot buy textbooks.”