The former president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has once again acknowledged that he does not know his own age and that he can only estimate it by looking at the ages of his classmates.
He clarified that a few of his elementary school classmates are still living, and none of them are younger than ninety. Obasanjo revealed this information on Sunday during a speech titled “A Conversation with His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo” at the Toyin Falola Interview Series.
He said, “We have digitalised over 3m materials. We still have about the same number, 3m to digitalise.
“The idea is when these materials are digitalised, people can have access to them. That is number one. As document preservation, we preserve the past, take note of the present and we want all these to inspire the future.”
Obasanjo further disclosed that several personal and historical records are preserved in the library, including his academic files and private correspondence.
He explained that the facility houses his primary and secondary school records, a letter he wrote to former military ruler, General Sani Abacha, after the death of his son, and another letter addressed to his wife during his imprisonment.
Despite the availability of these records, Obasanjo maintained that he still could not definitively state his age, but pointed to surviving classmates as possible references.
He said, “I don’t know my exact age but I could judge from those who were in school with me, I have given you an example of Olubara (Oba Jacob Olufemi Omolade, the Olubara of Ibara) who is still alive.
“I believe there are six of my classmates in secondary school that I know are still alive and none of them is less than 90 years of age. So I leave it to you to guess what my age could be.
“My school record card in primary school, I have been able to keep them and when I became President and I wanted to establish the library, they were available to be exhibited.
“My records in primary and secondary school and even the manuscripts of books that I have written, those that I wrote in prison and so on, even crops of maize that I planted when I was in prison, they are there and somehow I was able to keep them.
“Why the Presidential Library? I believe one of the things we don’t do too well in our society is that we don’t keep records too well, institutional memory is not what we do very well.”
