Why we want to upgrade National Theatre, Lagos -Chief Edem Duke

 

Chief Edem Duke (Photo by ADA DIKE)

In this with ADA DIKE interview, the Minister for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Chief Duke reveals the benefits of the proposed plan for Public-Private Partnership in upgrading the National Theatre and its environs.

Kindly tell us the stage you have reached on the proposed concession of the National Theatre?

We are still at the preliminary stage of the project and taking out a roadmap, but it is important that in doing that, we must carry all Nigerians along, especially, the National Assembly with representatives from all over the country who hold a mandate to represent the interest of the public, and what we have seen today, is an eloquent testimony of the fact that it is time for a renewal of the National Theatre.

The state of rot, the state of dilapidation and the state of abuse of the asset that makes up the National Theatre and makes up the commonwealth of Nigeria has been raped by people who have no positive consideration for us as a country.

We must find the courage, we must find the will, after 36 years, to ensure that this property benefit from the new investment that will groom the potentials of creative sector to its full prospect.

Can you tell us how much the government is likely to make from the proposed concession?

It is not an immediate thing. What we have in mind in terms of the business plan now is an assumption based on credible facts that this project would benefit the government in the area of N100 billion and that over a period of 30 years, whoever invests here would continue to pay money to the coffers of the federal government for the benefit of the entire country and after a period of concession which we have to be agreed by all subscribers to this initiative. Then the project will revert to the federal government of Nigeria.

This is a classic initiative, classic platform and opportunity for Nigeria, and unless we are being mischievous, the statement and the business plan is very clear and very transparent.

I cannot tell you that this is likely to generate a N100 billion Naira for the government, tomorrow it turns out that it generates N150 billion and people will misinterpret it.

What plans do you have in relocating the artistes that are revolting about the development?

They are selfish people. If they are proper artistes, they would not be dwelling in that kind of squalour and projecting an outward façade that they are creative people when that place is literally being turned into a brothel of some sort. You saw the despicable state in which they are living in that place. That is not what I see in artistes in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya, so that must not be a benchmark for artistes for Nigerian community.

What efforts have you put in place to ensure that they live up to expectation like the ones in the countries you mentioned?

You must understand the fact that government is an enabler. What we are trying to do is to enable and deliver a more modern facility so, that their creativity will also be leveraged from the basic element within which they are operating, which from what we have seen does not recommend itself to a national best practices. The environment itself must be an outward expression of the kind of creativity that you would be able to generate internally.  

How do you ensure that this concession would not end like the one that happened at the airport?

What happened at the airport? Can you tell me?

There are litigation here and there.

Of course, litigation will naturally come, but the transaction advisers, VGL Limited, said they have taken all those things into consideration. This is a facility that government developed 36 years ago, when it was in a state of inactivity, there is no litigation. Now that the government now says it has found the courage and will to develop it, of course there are people who will have different shades of opinions.

There is a speculation that somebody is interested in acquiring some part of the land. Is it true?

I don’t know. For us, this is a legacy thing, for us, this is a Nigerian thing. If there is any individual so interested, that is when the media must come with a full weight of its own conscience to expose such individual. That is not likely to be the plan, this has to be put through a transparent process and that is why we are bringing in the stakeholders to look into it.

Won’t the facility lose its value after 30 years that the investor will hand it back to the government?

When a man invest billions of Naira into a place that has been used to dump human wastes, corpses and a place that is used to rear swine, then in 30 years, that property would be returned to government. You cannot invest billions of Naira into a zero level and return in 30 years as scrap.