By Japhet Davidson

NATIONAL Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, an architectural masterpiece and a cultural landmark constructed during the military regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, for the preservation, presentation and promotion of Arts and Culture in the country for sometime now, has been in the news, because of government’s plan to give it to private developers for onward development and management.

The edifice covering an area of about 23,000 square meters and standing well over 31 meters tall, is one of the historical tour destination in Lagos and an ideal tourist destination for Private and Group tours.

CBN

But, recent developments has revealed that the national monument which has a 5,000-seater Main Hall with a collapsible stage and two capacity cinema halls equipped with state-of-the art facilities including mechanism for simultaneous translation of activities into 8 languages is not bringing the expected returns.

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Though, previous administrations have tried to breath fresh air to the facility, such efforts have not yielded the desired result, which makes various agencies sharing the complex to doubt any information supplied on the place, especially, the way the contracts are signed and handled.

Over the years, there had been several attempts to privatise the Arts Theatre due to its state of disrepair arising from poor funding, neglect and poor management by the Federal Government. In 2010, former President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to sell it off, but that sparked controversy amongst Nigerian entertainers and playwrights like Prof. Wole Soyinka. Again on December 30, 2014, it was reported that the facility has been sold to a Dubai-based conglomerate for the sum of $40million, and that the building will be converted to a duty-free shopping mall. All these moves were resisted by stakeholders in the arts and culture industry.

No matter how one views the moves to privatise the National Theatre building, the fact remains that  there has been a slow-down in the development of theatre in Lagos, which was once the centre of artistic creativity in the country.

That the National Arts Theatre has to be sold outright, or given out to a private entity to run, is overdue. The national edifice is now a shadow of its old self and something must be done to urgently halt its further decay. Hence, the recent approval by President Muhammadu Buhari that the National Arts Theatre be handed over to the CBN and the Bankers Committee for the purpose of creating 800,000 jobs is a welcome development.

With the announcement, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other banks will commence the implementation of the N22 billion creative industry initiative which will enable them  takeover of the national edifice and 40 acre of land around it.

According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this recently in Lagos while speaking at the Creative Nigeria Summit, said similar parks would be located in Kano, Port Harcourt or Enugu.

He said: “With the  kind support of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Lagos State government, the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, is expected to serve as the initial pilot for the Creative Industry Park in Nigeria. The aim is to develop the 40 acre creative industry park around the National Arts Theatre, including giving the theatre itself tremendous facelift, thereby reopening the tourism potential it offered during the FESTAC 77 arts culture.”

On his part, chairman of the Board of Bank CEOs, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, “the Creative Industry Initiative, which is aimed at unlocking the creative talents of Nigerian youths, was designed to generate 800,000 jobs in the movie, music and fashion sectors, as well as increase the revenue of the industry by $300 million.

“The banking industry, through the initiative which would be implemented over a five-year period, would support the development of 50 additional cinemas, and increase the contribution of the movie industry to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, to three percent from the current level of one percent, he added.”

With adequate funding and prudent management, the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos which represents one of the most identifiable national symbols about Nigeria arts and culture at home and abroad that hosted the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977, and a good number of film shows, symposia, exhibitions, international concerts, dramas,conventions, workshops and even sports in the past is bound to be a money spinner for the country as well as a monument of national pride.