Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has again revealed that he does not know his exact age, explaining that he can only estimate it by comparing himself with his surviving classmates, none of whom is younger than 90.
Obasanjo spoke on Sunday during the Toyin Falola Interview Series titled “A Conversation with His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,” moderated by Professor Toyin Falola and featuring Bishop Matthew Kukah and former presidential candidate Kingsley Moghalu.
He noted that many of his contemporaries from primary and secondary school are still alive, and all of them are now in their 90s. According to him, this gives a rough indication of what his own age should be, although he insists he cannot state it with certainty.
During the interview, Obasanjo also discussed the purpose of establishing the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library. He described it as an important national archive designed to preserve historical documents, safeguard institutional memory, and provide public access to records. He revealed that more than three million materials have already been digitised, with another three million still awaiting processing.
Obasanjo said the library contains a wide range of personal and historical documents, including his academic records, private letters, manuscripts of books he wrote in and out of prison, and even remnants of maize crops he planted during his incarceration.
He explained that despite having access to these records, none of them precisely establishes his birth year. Instead, he relies on the ages of surviving classmates, such as Oba Jacob Omolade, the Olubara of Ibara, to estimate his own age.
He added that one of the reasons he created the presidential library was his belief that Nigerian society does not maintain records effectively, leading to weak institutional memory. The library, he said, was designed to correct this by preserving the past, documenting the present, and inspiring the future.
