Grey areas

Editorial

On the surface, the Federal Government’s hand-over of the National Arts Theatre, Lagos, to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is a significant step towards redeveloping the deteriorating pre-eminent cultural event complex. The renewal is expected to be completed in 18 months.

With an initial funding of N25 billion, the redevelopment will be in two phases:  N7 billion for restoration and upgrade of the theatre; and N18 billion for the development of the adjoining unused land.

The CBN’s plan is to develop a 40-acre Creative Industry Park around the theatre, in addition to giving the theatre itself a facelift, with similar hubs planned for Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu.

“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,” CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele had explained to journalists after the 2019 Annual Bankers’ Committee Retreat in Ogere, Ogun State, in December, last year.

During the hand-over on July 12, Emefiele said the improved facilities would attract $20 billion annually to the country’s economy. In other words, this private-sector intervention will introduce a business model expected to bring big money.

But there is the danger of undesirable commercialism, which is why there is a need for a comprehensive clarification of the full implications of this intervention.

Importantly, it is unclear if the arrangement will lead to the privatisation of the theatre, considering Emefiele’s explanation of how the renovated theatre is supposed to operate.

He was quoted as saying last year:   “We are not in the business of managing those kinds of facilities. We would not; there is no attempt to sidestep 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.” He was not clear enough.

The soul of the National Arts Theatre should not be sacrificed for commercial interests. The rehabilitation and further development of the cultural centre should be done with a culture-friendly approach.

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 a national monument despite its unfortunate neglect over the years.

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 December 2014, under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, news that the 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.

In 2017, the Federal Government had announced that the Lagos State Government had offered to rehabilitate the theatre.  It is unclear why the collaboration fell through.

According to the new developers, the renovated theatre will create jobs for more than one million Nigerians over the next five years, in music, fashion, IT and Nollywood, under a Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI).

But there are grey areas that need to be clarified, particularly to avoid giving the impression that the redevelopment will promote commercialism.