The Federal Government has denied plans to turn the
National Theatre to a five-star hotel.
Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation,
Mr. Edem Duke, made this known when he spoke to our correspondent on telephone
yesterday.
The minister said the letters sent to agencies and
parastatals which have offices at the edifice were meant to inform them about
the decision to implement the National Theatre Master Plan, which was
originally designed to include a hotel.
Duke said that he had held meetings with the heads of the
agencies and parastatals over the issue.
He said: “This is only a temporary relocation so that
work can commence on the National Theatre Master Plan and we are only at the
technical stage of revamping the edifice so that work can commence.”
The minister said the service of a technical adviser had
been sought, whose name would be made public in due course and that the Federal
Ministry of Works had been asked to provide alternative accommodation for the
affected agencies.
However, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the
National Dance Troupe, Martin Adaji, who receipt of the letter, said he was not
part of the meeting.
He said: “I got the letter and responded to it, but I
have not gotten a reply. My response was that I was not part of the meeting,
neither was I privy to the relocation site, which they must have discussed at
the meeting in which I was not present.”
He said that if he has an alternative location, he would
move. Adaji, who said his artistes were at the moment in camp, explained he is
still waiting for a reply from the minister and is yet to receive it.
He said: “I don’t have a place to move to and I have
artistes who are in camp and we have a joint decree with the National Theatre.
I don’t know if the National Theatre got the same letter, I don’t know which
other agency got the same letter. So, I am still waiting for his reply.”
However, a stakeholder, Prof. Femi Osofisan, described
the alleged plan to turn the National Theatre to a hotel as a severe blow to
the nation’s cultural development.
He recalled that the art community rose against the
planned balkanisation of the edifice in the past, adding that the same thing
would happen now if attempt is made to turn it to a hotel.
Osifisan said: “It is the only National Theatre we have
and somebody is thinking of turning it into a hotel. At the same time, they are
even talking of building one in Calabar. Meanwhile, the one in Abuja has not
even been built. The land is there, the plan has been drawn, just ready to be
done and they didn’t even talk about that. Suddenly I am hearing of turning the
place into a hotel.
“It is absolute rubbish as far as I am concerned. What is
the logic behind it? It is the only national theatre we have. At the last
playwright confab which I convened in Ife, people are even asking for more
theatres and that even local government councils should be mandated to build a
theatre each.”
Source: National Mirror
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