Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has sparked fresh public discussion after openly stating that he does not know his true age.

The former Head of State made the comment during the Toyin Falola Interviews on Sunday, where he spoke at length about memory, history, and the need for proper national documentation.

Obasanjo told the audience that his age remains uncertain even to him.

He explained that he relies on the ages of his surviving secondary school classmates to estimate how old he might be.

According to him, six of those classmates are still alive, and none is below 90 years old.

“I don’t know my exact age but I could judge from those who were in school with me… So I leave it to you to guess what my age could be,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience but also raising questions on how age documentation was handled in Nigeria during his childhood years.

The former president used the moment to reflect on why documentation matters, pointing particularly to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, a project he frequently describes as one of his most important legacies.

He said the library was designed to preserve institutional memory and keep historical records accessible for future generations.

Obasanjo explained that the archive is massive and still growing. “We have digitised over 3 million materials. We still have about the same, 3 million, to digitalise,” he stated. He added that the goal is to ensure that researchers, students, and Nigerians everywhere can access these materials easily once the process is completed.

He revealed that the library contains a wide range of personal and national records.

These include his primary and secondary school documents, letters he wrote while in prison—some addressed to his late wife and others written to General Sani Abacha following the death of his son—manuscript drafts of his books, and even farming logs from crops he planted during his imprisonment.

Obasanjo stressed that keeping proper records is not a strength in Nigerian society and that the library was created to help correct that gap.

“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,” he noted.

The former president celebrated his 88th birthday in March, though he has now suggested that his actual age may be different.