"National theatre has remained a mere ball for government ping-ponging"

Roughly a year after Nigerians stopped him from turning the National Theatre into a hotel, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Edem Duke, secretly jetted off the country to the United Arab Emirates, UAE, where he traded off the nation’s cultural pride to Mulk Holding, a diversified UAE-based conglomerate with interests in retail sector and other businesses.

According to Nigeria Political Economist, the secret deal which was successfully shielded from the Nigerian media, in spite of a subsisting concessioning arrangement with the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, was signed and sealed in December, 2014 between a delegation led by Duke, the General Manager of the National Theatre, Kabiru Yar’Adua and representatives of Mulk Holding, said to be ploughing the sum of $40 million (about N7.5 billion) counterpart fund into the project.

The National Arts Theatre was originally built for the Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977, and later underwent a controversial privatisation after 2001 under President Olusegun Obasanjo. Fresh plans further anticipate leasing the land around the theatre in a 30-year concession.

Minister of Tourism, Edem Duke, noted: “As part of the continuous drive to promote culture and tourism, the federal government is making necessary arrangements to transform the land into a modern mixed-use commercial and business hub of global standards.”

Though the theatre had been a victim of public sector incompetence, its final descent into the ignoble hall of shame of failed public institutions started in 2001 when the Obasanjo civilian government served notice of its intent to privatize the monument. Converting a public institution into a successful private enterprise has never captured the fancy of Nigerians. Many of such previous attempts at privatization of public institutions have failed and the case of the National Theatre was not different.

Between 2001 and now, the theatre has remained a mere ball for government ping-ponging. It is yet to be sold or concessioned, worst still the federal government which is the original owner of the facility is behaving as though it is the least of its worries.

Political Economist investigation showed that the theatre has become a victim of power play orchestrated by the Tourism Minister, Edem Duke, in concert with the General Manager of the Theatre, Mallam Kabiru Yar’Adua both of whom, stakeholders allege, are intent on disposing of the national monument for peanuts.

The National Theatre has been a victim of government policy flip-flop. The BPE commenced the concession transaction of the National Theatre in 2001 following the conclusion of World Bank-financed diagnostic study and Transaction Advisory service in line with international best practices. The first concession transaction in 2001 led to the pre-qualification of the following prospective concessionaires:   Jadeas Trust Consortium and Lloyd Anderson Investment Limited.

The Theatre, they argue, was set up by a decree just like the National Troupe and other parastatals of the Ministry of Tourism and they see no reason why it should be sold off on the whims of a minister and a manager.