I write to invite the attention of Nigerians, the Nigerian Bar Association and of the governments of Lagos State and the federation, to the Gani Fawehinmi Library and Gallery.
My appeal: please help ensure the survival of this wonderful facility, in the interest of Nigerian history and culture.
For those who may not know, Gani, as he was widely known, was for nearly 40 years until his death in September 2009, the lawyer who became one of Nigeria’s real giants. He dedicated his life to the active advocacy of social justice, human rights, democracy, and a true war against corruption and the arrogance of the mighty and powerful. While he lived, he was the most potent voice of the weak and the poor, and he used his personal resources in every battle in that direction.
He was briefly a politician too, in 2003 running for president, an effort undertaken more to draw attention to the nature of the Nigerian beast than to any real hope of winning.
Throwing my support behind his campaign that year, I cited his integrity and depth of principle, the absence of which, I argued, had made it impossible for Nigeria to develop.
“In public life, through his intervention on behalf of the rule of law, the constitution and the judiciary, he exemplifies the acknowledgement and protection of our common good,” I wrote. More than any other citizen, dead or alive, he has repeatedly gone to court to seek legal interpretation, or to put before the court matters that have forced the judiciary to assert itself, thereby curbing the excesses of the executive.
“By his doggedness, he has saved our judiciary from being eaten alive by a greedy executive for over two decades. This role was particularly crucial during the military era, but he has never discriminated between the uniforms of those in power, only in terms of what they have symbolised. He has never compromised. We do not often have such people in our public life. A Fawehinmi Presidency would scare some people. That is because we all know he would speak a different language: he cannot be bought, he will not be looking for personal gain, and he will hold people and institutions to account…”
He founded the Nigerian Weekly Law Reports in 1986, and served as its editor-in-chief. That project became the hub of what is now the Library and Gallery named after him.
This project, should it require justification, is important because it is a library, of which Nigeria has so few. It is even more important because it is a private library.
Apart from his success in his chosen profession, Gani was also a visionary. Throughout his professional life, and despite all the battles in which he was routinely beaten and thrown behind bars, he studiously obtained and maintained a collection of Nigerian and Nigeria-related publications, including daily newspapers. That collection is today still doggedly maintained by the Gani Fawehinmi Library and Gallery.
This facility, which is only a short distance from the Office of the Governor of Lagos State, is probably the only one in the country with a full collection of the newspapers of the period, many of which I have often tried to find at the National Library, without success.
This makes this institution an important cultural icon, just as its famous proprietor was. How important is this? As one who comments on contemporary Nigeria, I often read comments from some readers and passers-by who either have no sense of history at all, or worse still, seem to believe that the country dates from somewhere in the last 10 or 20 years. They produce arguments that, brought within the light of history, melt away like wax before heat.
Such people, often rather young, tend to date Nigeria within their lifespan. Although that is not really an excuse, the truth is that the people who commit these errors often lack research materials. You cannot fully explore the Nigeria corruption story, for instance, without some mention of the Second Republic encounter between one Joseph Tarka and Godwin Daboh, both now deceased; or of one General Muhammadu Buhari and his second-in-command in 1984, one Tunde Idiagbon, also now deceased.
But many younger Nigerian commentators do, and many researchers of the period are similarly handicapped. That is a hole the Gani Fawehinmi Library and Research Centre fills admirably.
But there are problems. The wealth of material the institution possesses is still in the same hard copy form in which Gani obtained them originally. This means that to take advantage of the library, every interested researcher must appear physically. It also means such a person must invest the time and patience required to inspect every specific object of interest.
This is where Nigerian governments, public institutions, civil society organizations and individuals interested in history and knowledge must urgently come to the aid of the facility.
The greatest problem I identified at the centre, when I became a member last month, is that in the event of flooding and fire, the institution can be gone in one day.
The related issue is that the collection needs to be digitized, thus ensuring not only that it is fully protected, but also available day or night, and to any interested researcher throughout the world. By contrast, it took me a full day to attempt to retrieve a limited number of materials of interest. No modern library operates like this.
One wonderful thing is that the centre, in line with the philanthropic disposition of Gani, is still providing scholarships to students who cannot afford to pay its membership fees.
But the library environment is now inadequate for study or even the maintenance of the collection. Many of the air-conditioning units have packed up, and I was told that some library users no longer visit. Unless this problem is quickly rectified, including the installation of new air conditioners, the collection may be damaged beyond help.
I think this wonderful facility should be declared a national landmark, to provide funds and assistance to the Fawehinmi family and the management of the library to run the facility as a cultural and intellectual centre.
To that end, the centre may be re-designated The Gani Fawehinmi Research Centre, without dropping its library and gallery characteristics, but adopting a more robust national outlook.
I urge Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Professor Wole Soyinka, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and all the legal personalities who knew Gani well and deeply appreciate the cause of knowledge, to help support this important cultural symbol.
Since establishing my membership, I have also learned that the library now accepts book donations. In addition, those Nigerians who have access to big libraries abroad may consider linking them up with the Gani staff as they explore technical assistance opportunities, including on-the-job training.
This is a challenge in which we can all be of use to the present, and the future.
• Twitter: @SonalaOlumhense
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