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  • FG Renames National Theatre

    FG Renames National Theatre

    The Federal Government says the National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, which is under renovation, will be known as Lagos Creative and Entertainment Center, upon completion.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Tuesday in Madrid, Spain, while signing an agreement on Nigeria’s hosting of first Global Conference on Cultural Tourism and Creative Industry.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports the bilateral agreement was signed between Nigeria and United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at the organisation’s headquarters.

    Mohammed disclosed that the global conference ,which would hold from Nov. 14 to Nov. 17, would be the first event to be staged at the newly refursbished edifice.

    “Nigeria will be hosting the event at the National Theatre in Lagos, which is currently being renovated at a cost of 100 million dollars under a partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Bankers’ Committee/Central Bank of Nigeria.

    “It is the first of such renovation of the iconic edifice in over four decades.

    “In addition to the renovation, new hubs are being constructed, within the premises of the National theatre, for fashion, Information, technology, film and music.

    “With that, the National Theatre is now known as the Lagos Creative and Entertainment Centre.

    “In addition, the Lagos surface rail system to serve the National Theatre will be commissioned ahead of the Global Conference,” he said

    Mohammed said the signing of the bilateral agreement signified Nigeria’s commitment to host the event.

    He, therefore, directed that the contractors handling the reconstruction project must ensure its prompt delivery for the global event.

    The minister added that in an effort to ensure that the complex is ready for the hosting in November, he recently undertook an inspection tour of ongoing work there with stakeholders.

    The stakeholders on the inspection tour, according to the minister, were Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu; the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare.

    According to the minister, there was every indication  that the venue would be ready early enough to host the global conference.

    The Nigeria Ambassador to Spain, Mr. Ademola Seriki, who said he is a member of Board of Directors of the company handling the reconstruction project, said the edifice would be completed before the global event.

    Seriki, who accompanied the minister to the bilateral agreement signing ceremony, thanked the UNWTO for giving Nigeria the right to host the maiden global conference.

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    He said the conference would bring a huge reputation to the country and assert Nigeria’s lead in music, theatre and other areas of entertainment in Africa.

    Mr. Folorunsho Coker, Director-General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation, was on the entourage of the minister.

    The National Theatre, an iconic centre for performing arts, was established  to preserve, present and promote arts and culture in Nigeria.

    The construction of the monument was completed in 1976 in preparation for the Festival of Arts and Culture hosted in 1977.

  • Revamped National Theatre To Create 8,000 Jobs On Completion – Lai Mohammed

    Revamped National Theatre To Create 8,000 Jobs On Completion – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the National Arts Theatre handed over to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for rehabilitation, will generate no less than 8000 jobs upon completion.

    The minister stated this on Thursday when he featured on the Radio Nigeria live programme, “Politics Nationwide,” monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    Revamped National Theatre To Create 8,000 Jobs On Completion – Lai Mohammed

    He said about 6000 jobs would be created at the reconstruction and revamping stages of the national theatre while additional 2000 jobs would be provided when the project was completed.

    Mohammed allayed the fears of the management of the national theatre as well as concerned stakeholders that the process might lead to job loss.

    He reiterated that, to the contrary, more jobs would be created and the rehabilitation would boost the potentials of the creative and entertainment industry.

    The minister said the decision to hand over the national theatre to the CBN was informed by the need to reposition the entire creative industry.

    “The handover of the national theatre to the CBN is one of the many steps by government to reposition the creative industry.

    “As you know, the national theatre is the hub of the creative industry as a whole and one of the iconic edifices in the country.

    “For more than 43 years, there has been really no serious renovation as a result of lack of fund by the government and the edifice is at a sorry state.

    “Several attempts to privatise or concession the edifice either before or during my tenure as minister has failed, and the truth of the matter is that government has no money to embark on the renovation.

    “Therefore, when the CBN made the offer, we saw it as a golden opportunity to return the national theatre to its glory days,” he said.

    READ ALSO: Rehabilitation: FG Hands Over National Theatre to CBN, Bankers Committee

    On the agreement, the minister said that the CBN and its partner, the Bankers Committee, would renovate and revamp the edifice and hand over a brand new national theatre back to government.

    He said government, in return, handed over about 142 fallow hectares around the edifice to them to construct a Lagos Creative and Entertainment City, with four hubs – film, music, fashion and IT.

    Mohammed said that the national theatre and the hubs would be connected with other facilities, including water ways, amphitheatre and community centre, among others.

    “The idea is to have a creative and entertainment centre where budding musicians can record their works and do post productions and where budding actors can hold rehearsals and shoot their films.

    “The national theatre will become the platform for consumption of the music, film and fashion produced in the hubs.

    “The facilities would be given out at a much more affordable price because the intention is not just to make profit but to engender the growth of the creative industry,” he said.

    The minister added that with the creative hubs in place, there would be an end to capital flight and economy bleed occasioned by artistes going outside the country for post production of their films and music.

    On the controversies generated by the handing over of the edifice to CBN, the minister said there was no time, before or during his tenure that government entered into any binding agreement with anybody.

    Mohammed commended the ace comedian, Ali Baba led-committee of creative industry stakeholders, for advising the Federal Government on the best way to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the industry.

    “Let me use the opportunity to thank the Ali Baba led-committee for a comprehensive, detailed and well researched report submitted to government.

    “It will guide us on the new steps to take in our efforts to reposition the creative industry,” he said.

    The minister added that the report revealed amazing potentials in the creative industry, saying government would set up a committee for the implementation of the recommendations.

  • Rehabilitation: FG Hands Over National Theatre to CBN, Bankers Committee

    Rehabilitation: FG Hands Over National Theatre to CBN, Bankers Committee

    Minister for Culture and Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Sunday in Lagos handed over the National Theatre to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers committee for restoration and upgrade.

    Speaking at the event, Mohammed said that the National Theare, despite the arrangement, still remained a national heritage.

    According to him, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture would continue to hold the keys to the iconic national heritage inspite of the Public Private Partnership arrangement between federal government and the Bankers Committee.

    “He said, permit me to make clarifications that this iconic National theatre remains a national heritage and will not be ceded to any person or group as some naysayers are insinuating, it remains our national heritage.

    “The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture will continue to hold the keys to the National Theatre on behalf of all Nigerians. What we are here to do is to handover the National Theatre for restoration and upgrade and also the 134 hectares of fallow land within the premises to the CBN and the Bankers committee for development,” he said.

    Speaking further, the Minister said that the PPP arrangement would be in two phases which were; the restoration and upgrade of the National Theatre to its glory days, while the second phase would be the development of the fallow land surrounding the edifice.

    “Another good news is that this project will not lead to any single job loss rather, it will create more, over 6,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase while the completed project could generate additional 600 permanent jobs and 2,000 to 3,000 jobs, this is a good one,” he added.

    READ ALSO: Bankers Committee To Renovate National Theater With N20bn

    Mohammed said that the project which had been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari would be a win-win arrangement for everyone involved.

    ”The place had been left for over four decades without any form of renovation.

    ”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 for the advancement of the performing arts throughout the country, to also encourage the promotion of the social development and improvement of the quality of life.

    The Minister said that the centre, upon upgrade, would comprise creative clusters of fashion, music, film and information technology which would be supported by other facilities including multi-storey parking space to accommodate over 1,000 cars.

    ”There would be the administrative and management offices, this will create massive job opportunities for the youths. I enjoin all of us to give our maximum support to this project so that we can bequeath a befitting national heritage to the younger generation. I appreciate everyone connected to the success of this project,” he said.

    Also, the Minister for Youths and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare, said that it was a privilege for him to be at the event which would see to revampimg the creative and entertainment centre.

    Dare said many would wonder why the Minister for Youths was at the event forgetting that the youth would benefit more from the project as they are the most active part of the creative industry.

    “The potential of the new National Theatre is massive job creation, talent discovery for our youths and the coming generation being an information and technology hub. With the pandemic still biting hard, this project is much more divine and needed to battle the multi-headed challenge of unemployment, criminality and the negative impression that is thrust upon individuals who have chosen the life of crime,” the minister noted.

  • EFCC arrests four National Theatre directors

    EFCC arrests four National Theatre directors

    Four directors of The National Theatre in Lagos have been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged embezzlement of funds.

    The four directors were picked up at their Iganmu office over alleged diversion of revenue and statutory allocation into private use.

    They were said to have refused to honour an earlier invitation by the anti-graft agency.

    The directors, including a woman, were said to have failed to remit revenues realised from the use of facilities at the National Theatre into the federal government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    The directors were said to have embezzled N24 million annual rent paid by Nigerian Breweries for its 20 branded kiosks and N9 million paid for the use of National Theatre during the “Lagos @ 50” celebrations.

    Efforts by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Grace Gekpe, to intervene on telephone proved abortive.

    Reacting to the development, Vice President, National Theatre Chapter of AUPCTRE, Henry Udubuisi, said that the union was in support of the management’s decision to get rid of corruption.

    AUPCTRE is the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporationns, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services.

    Udubuisi said the union would give its support to the new management to cleanse the agency of graft.

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    His word:  “The position of the union is that we are solidly behind the management to fight corruption in National Theatre. We are also proud to be associated with it.

    “We are using this medium to appreciate the management on its “Change must begin with me” project.

    “The Artistic Director means well; he wants to address some administrative impunity here.

    “He is not victimising anybody, he is just asking them to be accountable for what has happened for those who have questions to answer. We need someone like him here to stamp out corruption.

    “The union will never condone corruption; in fact the union stands against corruption and we are happy that the management key into our vision.”