Abstract
The school library is the fulcrum upon which academic activities in primary and secondary
schools revolve. But over the years, the school library that was an integral part of primary
and secondary schools' education has been completely neglected. The reason for this
neglect is attributed to several factors which are pointed out in this study. Observations
and interviews techniques were used to gather data from public and private primary and
secondary schools selected randomly in Lagos state. The cosmopolitan nature and
economic viability of Lagos state makes it ideal for this study. The outcome of the study
revealed that majority of the public and private primary and secondary schools in Nigeria
don`t have libraries due to several factors amongst which are inadequate funding,
corruption, unqualified and inadequate personnel. Recommendations of how school
libraries can be resuscitated to support the academic activities of students and teachers in
primary and secondary schools were made amongst which are adequate budgetary
allocation, strengthening policy enforcement, capacity building and professionalization and
public-private partnerships.
Keywords: Investment, Education, School libraries, Corruption, Curriculum, Monitoring, Supervision
Publication Date: 2026-05-03