The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as the Bankers’ Committee for the renovation of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after a meeting of the council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
Mohammed said the CBN and Bankers’ Committee were willing to invest N21.89bn to renovate the National Theatre complex. He said the MoU provided that they would run the facility for 21 years before returning it to the Federal Government.
“I sought and obtained an approval to execute a memorandum of understanding between the Federal Ministry of Information, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee worth N21 billion for the renovation of the National Theatre Iganmu, Lagos,” he said.
Describing the development as ‘a landmark approval’, the minister said it would pave the way for investment in the creative industry as part of the resolve of the present regime to create at least one million jobs in the industry in the next three years. Mohammed said,
“The President had in 2020 given approval to the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee to develop, refurbish, renovate the National Theatre and at the same time take over the adjoining lands to create a veritable creative industry where there will be four hubs: one each for films, music, IT and fashion
The CBN is expected to manage the edifice for few years before handing it over to the government.
In his remarks, the minister also said no job will be lost because after the National Theater is renovated, a special purpose vehicle will be created to run it.
“This is a landmark approval because it has paved the way for investment in the creative industry as part of the resolve of this government to create at least 1 million jobs in the next three years from the creative industry. The CBN through the Bankers Committee is willing to invest N21, 894, 000, 000 to renovate the National Theatre, refurbish it, and run it profitably.”
He also added that It cannot be business as usual
‘‘It will be a turning point in the creative industry in the sense that we are going to have a brand new National Theater, an event center that will help in creating more jobs,’’ he noted.
“President had in 2020 gave approval to the CBN and the Bankers Committee, to develop, refurbish, renovate the National Theater and at the same time take over the adjourning lands to create a veritable creative industry where there will be four hubs. One for films, one for music, one for IT and the other for fashion.”
The CBN is expected to manage the edifice for few years before handing it over to the government.
The federal government, in July 2020, officially handed over the National Theatre to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee for renovation.
The Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, had expressed hope that a new and improved national arts theatre would be launched by the president, before 2023.
