The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the planned restoration and upgrade of the National Theatre will generate about 10,000 new jobs during and after the restoration.
The Minister stated this in Lagos on Sunday during the formal handover of the edifice and the adjoining 134-hectare fallow land to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bankers’ Committee in Lagos.
He said:
”The good news is that this project will not lead to a single job loss. Instead, it will create more,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi.
“Some 6,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase while the completed project could generate up to an additional 600 permanent and 2000 to 3000 call-on/call-off jobs. This is as good as it gets.”
Lai Mohammed, howerver, discredited claims that the government are plotting to sell of the facility, saying there was no plan of such.
He said the government has decided to bring life back to the edifice at a cost of N25 billion under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) tagged the Lagos Creative and Entertainment Centre Project.
He stated that the 25-billion-naira project, tagged the Lagos Creative and Entertainment Centre Project, is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) that will be executed in two phases, with Phase 1 being the restoration and upgrade of the National Theatre to its glory days at a cost of N7b, and Phase II of the development of the adjoining fallow land at a cost of N18b.
“For over 40 years, no major renovation work has been done on the National Theatre, while the adjoining land has been lying fallow. Many attempts to restore the National Theatre have failed. And the Government has no money to restore the complex.
“As you know, this is the hub of the Creative Industry in Nigeria. The National Theatre was established to encourage the advancement of the performing arts throughout the country; to create opportunities for performing artists of the country as well as to aid the promotion of social development and the improvement of the quality of life. In its present state, it is not living to its billing,”
Lai Mohammed, Recalling the glory days of the facility, said the building once hosted all Nigerian State Government functions and musical extravaganzas such as the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Roy Ayers, Skyy, Shalamar, Whispers, Third world, and Dynasty.
He added that it also hosted stage events like Wole Soyinka’s adaptation of D.O Fagunwa’s Langbodo and even Stevie Wonder, who he said received one of his numerous Grammy Awards at the National Theatre.
Many Dignitaries attended the event, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare; and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Others present at the event where the Chairman of the Committee of Banks’ CEOs, Herbert Wigwe, and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Culture, Grace Gekpe.
The renovation project of the National Theatre is expected to be completed in 18 months.
(C) Control TV 2020.
