More than two years after a publicised collaboration between the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government to rehabilitate the National Arts Theatre, Lagos, didn’t work out, the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is a new dimension.
Next month, according to CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, the redevelopment of the National Arts Theatre will begin based on the availability of N25bn set aside for that purpose by the Bankers’ Committee, an umbrella body for CBN officials and managing directors of deposit money banks (DMBs).
The project, which is to be funded under the committee’s Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI), shows another side of the banking sector, and its possible development roles.
The CBN and the Bankers Committee, in December 2018, introduced CIFI by which banks are expected to set aside five percent of their Profit After Tax (PAT) yearly.
Emefiele said the Bankers’ Committee had the backing of the Presidency to redevelop the National Arts Theatre.
The CBN governor told journalists after the 2019 Annual Bankers’ Committee Retreat in Ogere, Ogun State, on December 14: “What the Bankers’ Committee is doing is to help revive a dead asset or an asset that is dying, that is currently not well maintained, that is not able to generate its potential earnings and revenue as a result of paucity of funds and good maintenance.
“We are only just trying to redevelop it again and then build around it these four hubs – music, fashion, IT and Nollywood – that will help create economic activity around the National Arts Theatre and then present it as an opportunity to create jobs for people…”
It is a shame that the theatre complex was neglected and allowed to deteriorate to the point where a critical intervention is now required for its restoration. The National Arts Theatre, the venue of the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977, remains the country’s pre-eminent cultural event centre, despite its unfortunate neglect over the years.
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The CBN’s plan is to develop a 40-acre Creative Industry Park around the National Arts Theatre in addition to giving the theatre itself a facelift, with similar hubs planned for Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu.
It is unclear whether the arrangement will lead to the privatisation of the National Arts Theatre, considering Emefiele’s explanation of how the renovated theatre is supposed to operate.
He was quoted as saying: “We are not in the business of managing those kinds of facilities. We would not; there is no attempt to side step staff of the National Theatre.
However, we will work with them and make sure that we put in place the maintenance culture and arrangement that will make the National Theatre and the hub around it a tourist attraction not only to Nigerians but to the world.”
The fate of the National Arts Theatre has been a subject of controversy, particularly after the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration announced plans to privatise it in 2010.
In December 2014, under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, news that the National Arts Theatre had been sold to a UAE-based conglomerate triggered a massive protest, particularly in arts and culture circles in the country.
A certain Mulk Holdings was reported to have won a $40 million joint venture bid to “develop the National Arts Theatre in Lagos into a duty-free shopping centre.” The report also named another UAE-based company, Suzzane Group, as the other party in the venture.
There can be no excuse for sacrificing the soul of the National Arts Theatre for commercial interests.
The rehabilitation and further development of the cultural symbol should be done with a culture-friendly approach. The full implications of the CBN’s intervention should be clarified.
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