The Managing Director (MD) of one of Nigeria’s historic landmarks, the National Theatre, Sunday Ododo, said that the monument would not need so many repairs if there was a “maintenance support of a billion naira or even hald a billion annually”.
Ododo said this in a statement while examining the progress of the complex’s rehabilitation work.
He said that there would be more than 16,000 jobs during and after the reconstruction work ongoing.
The MD said that the thousands of employment opportunities from the theatre’s reconstruction would come both directly and indirectly.
He said, “The jobs will come directly and indirectly through the ongoing radical restoration, revamping and renovation of the edifice.
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“When completed, the complex, which is 44 years old, will be a huge business centre.
“It will be the place to be. Food sellers and other petty businesses will not be left out. Those coming for events will be served.
“Administration after administration have ensured the edifice stands.
“And I must salute our predecessors; I give them kudos. If not for their dedication and efforts, National Theatre would have collapsed long ago.
“It is capital intensive to maintain. So you can now imagine if a huge sum of 21.8 billion naira is being invested to restore the complex.
“If, for instance, we had maintenance support of a billion naira or even half a billion annually, we will not get to this point where so much is required to fix the edifice.
That is why we are glad to inform Nigerians that with the new arrangement, there’s a component that says that once the work is finished, a company will be engaged to maintain the facility every day for the next five years.
“If its work is good, it will be re-engaged; if otherwise, another company will be brought on board. So, maintenance is part of the new arrangement so that we don’t go back to Egypt.
“We don’t want to send anybody out of business, though, but our own prime target is international businesses because we have facilities that can host international events which many of these event centres don’t have.
“We will be making available a media centre that can take care of multi-language interpretation and all that. We have a 5,000-capacity main bowl.
“That one can take any UN event, any World Bank event, and any international event. National Theatre will be the centre to beat.”
The rehabilitation project is expected to be funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other financial institutions through the Bankers Committee.
Together, the institutions will collectively release N21.894 billion towards the project.
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