By Chukwuma Umeorah
President Bola Tinubu has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee to establish an endowment fund to ensure the sustainability of the newly re-commissioned National Arts Theatre, now renamed the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts.
Tinubu gave this directive in Lagos on Wednesday while speaking at the event which also marked Nigeria’s 65th Independence Day celebration. Tinubu said the fund would guarantee jobs, maintenance, accessibility, and long-term commitment to the cultural landmark. “It’s now left with Cardoso and others to put together an endowment fund. And I’m going to be a contributor. And it’s not a bad thing for us to use this opportunity to create jobs, maintenance, accessibility, and commitment. This place will not go derelict again,” he said.
The President also used the occasion to urge Nigerians in the diaspora and at home to stop projecting the country in a negative light. According to him, “Stop talking about Nigeria in the negative tone. We are a country of very proud people. We know what we are. It’s about ourselves, believing. Please, lift Nigeria. Believe in Nigeria. Put Nigeria first.”
CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, who spoke on behalf of the financial sector partners, noted that the Bankers’ Committee alone had committed about N68 billion to the restoration of the theatre. He stressed that the project was more than corporate social responsibility but a deliberate investment in Nigeria’s cultural future. “This project stands as proof that when the public and private sectors unite behind a shared national purpose, there is no limit to what Nigeria can achieve,” Cardoso said.
He explained that the restoration had preserved the iconic silhouette of the structure while modernizing it with performance halls, cinema spaces, exhibition galleries, an African literature library, rehearsal rooms, and upgraded infrastructure.
“The Wole Soyinka Centre is more than a renovation, it is a rebirth,” he said.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, earlier in his address, described the centre as a heartbeat of Nigeria’s identity that would anchor the state’s growing creative economy. “We gather not only to witness the commissioning of a renovated edifice or to celebrate the rebirth of a national icon, the National Arts Theatre, now rightfully named as the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts. This landmark is more than concrete and steel. It is a heartbeat of our nation’s costume to development,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu recalled the glory of FESTAC ’77 held at the theatre and said Lagos State was proud to have contributed land and infrastructural support to the revival project. He added that linking the theatre to the Lagos Blue Line Metro and dedicating space for a creative hub were part of the state’s commitment to making the centre sustainable.
Responding to the honour of having the theatre named after him, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka while appreciating the President admitted he accepted with “mixed feelings.” He said that he conceded that the transformation of the one-dilapidated structure into a modern cultural hub had forced him to reconsider. “My hope is that with the recreation of this institution, we wouldn’t need to go all the way to a foreign land to watch African theatre. I want to thank everyone who contributed to this, for doing what I considered and pronounced impossible,” he added.
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