By Hamman Abdulkareem
The reported plan to transfer the Murtala Muhammad Library Complex to Northwest University raises a bigger question for Kano: should the expansion of a university come at the expense of a public institution built to serve generations of learners?
The Murtala Muhammad Library Complex is more than a building in Kano. It is a public institution created around an idea that should never become outdated: that knowledge, reading, research and access to information must remain available to the wider public.
That is why reports that the Kano State Government is considering giving the complex to Northwest University deserve serious public discussion.
The question is not whether Northwest University needs more space. Universities obviously need adequate classrooms, offices, laboratories, libraries and other facilities as their student populations grow.
The more fundamental question is: must that additional space come at the expense of a public library?
The Murtala Muhammad Library has a function that is different from that of a university campus. It serves students, researchers, writers, civil servants, job seekers, young people and members of the wider community who may not necessarily belong to a university.
Its importance is not merely historical. The library remains recognised as a public educational facility, with reading spaces, books, journals, computer and internet access, and facilities for educational and cultural activities.
There is also a remarkable history behind the institution.
As recalled by Dalha Isah Fagge, a former Secretary to the Kano State Library Board, the project dates back decades and survived years of delays and neglect before receiving renewed attention around 1999. He recalled how library workers and members of the public contributed to the effort to bring the project to life.
That history matters because public institutions are not created only with concrete, government allocations and contractors’ invoices.
Some are built with people’s contributions, expectations and sacrifices.
People donated books.
People donated resources.
Development organisations supported programmes.
The library became a venue for intellectual activities, seminars, workshops and cultural engagement.
It has also been used for activities involving writers and researchers. For example, the Association of Nigerian Authors has held programmes at the complex, demonstrating its continuing role as a space for literary and intellectual engagement.
So the debate should not simply be reduced to “Northwest University needs space.”
Kano has many abandoned, underutilised or incompletely used public projects. If the government has identified the need to provide additional facilities for Northwest University, why not conduct a transparent assessment of those facilities and determine whether any can be rehabilitated and converted into appropriate academic infrastructure?
That approach would potentially achieve two objectives at once: helping the university while preserving a public library whose beneficiaries extend far beyond university students.
There is another important development that deserves attention.
Recent reports indicate that Northwest University’s Institute for Continuing Education is already operating within the Murtala Muhammad Library Complex. During a September 2026 inspection, the Kano State House of Assembly Committee on Higher Education expressed concern about the condition of the learning environment there. The committee chairman also said combining academic activities with political gatherings and other activities within the state library was inappropriate.
That raises an obvious question:
If the present arrangement is already creating challenges, would transferring or further allocating the library complex to the university actually solve the problem—or create a different one?
The government should explain its plans openly.
Is the entire complex being considered for transfer?
Is it a temporary arrangement?
Will the Kano State Library Board retain part of the complex?
What will happen to the library’s collections?
Where will members of the public go for reading and research if the facility becomes primarily a university property?
What alternative facility has been identified for the State Library Board?
And most importantly, has the government carried out a proper public-interest assessment before making such a decision?
These are legitimate questions, not opposition to the university.
Northwest University is an important institution, and its students deserve decent learning facilities. But the solution to inadequate university infrastructure should not automatically be the surrender of another public educational institution.
Kano should not have to choose between a university and a library.
The state should be capable of supporting both.
Indeed, a government committed to education should be looking for ways to strengthen both institutions.
Imagine what could happen if the Murtala Muhammad Library were instead given renewed investment: updated books, digital resources, modern research facilities, reliable internet, e-library services, children’s reading programmes, stronger mobile library services, improved accessibility and extended opening hours.
Such investment would benefit university students too.
A university student who needs a quiet place to read, conduct research or access information is also a potential user of the public library.
Researchers from Northwest University could use it.
Secondary-school students could use it.
Independent researchers could use it.
Writers could use it.
Young people preparing for examinations could use it.
People who cannot afford expensive private learning facilities could use it.
That is the wider social value of a public library.
Kano should therefore consider the library not as an empty piece of government property waiting to be allocated, but as an educational asset whose value may increase when properly managed and modernised.
There is also a principle at stake.
When a government inherits an institution built by previous generations, its responsibility should not be limited to finding another use for the land or building. It should consider the purpose for which that institution was created and the people it was designed to serve.
If there are genuine legal, financial, educational or administrative reasons for changing the ownership or use of the complex, the public deserves to hear them.
And if the university genuinely requires additional space, the government should publish the alternatives considered before settling on the library.
Perhaps an abandoned government building can be rehabilitated.
Perhaps an incomplete project can be completed.
Perhaps another public facility can be redesigned.
Perhaps the university itself can develop a phased expansion plan.
What should not happen is for a historic public learning centre to quietly lose its identity without a transparent conversation with the people of Kano.
The Murtala Muhammad Library Complex should not be viewed merely through the question of who occupies the building.
The bigger question is:
What kind of educational future does Kano want to build?
A future where one public institution is strengthened by taking space from another?
Or a future where universities, libraries, research centres and other knowledge institutions are deliberately developed together?
The answer should be obvious in principle: Kano needs more centres of learning, not fewer.
If Northwest University needs more facilities, give it more facilities.
If the State Library needs modernisation, modernise it.
If abandoned government projects exist, investigate them.
If public buildings are underutilised, assess them.
If funds are available, invest them.
But before handing over a historic public library, the government should pause and ask whether there is another way.
Because once the identity and purpose of an institution are lost, restoring the building alone may not restore what was lost.
The Murtala Muhammad Library is not simply a property. It is part of Kano’s educational memory.
The government has an opportunity to protect that memory while also addressing the legitimate needs of Northwest University.
A rethink would not mean refusing to support the university.
It would mean supporting the university without sacrificing the public library.
Kano deserves both.
And perhaps the best legacy the present administration can leave is not the story that one institution received another institution’s space, but that it found a way to expand education without diminishing the places where generations of Kano people have gone to learn.
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