Why National Arts Theatre under CBN will create 1m jobs in 5 years'

Finally, the 43-year-old National Arts Theatre at Iganmu, Lagos State, has formally been handed over to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee for rehabilitation.

This is coming barely a year after President Muhammadu Buhari had approved its reconstruction into a world-class convention center,the Federal Government on Sunday handed over the facility to CBN in Lagos.
This development is however, believed that it would grow the creative sector in diverse areas including entertainment, movie, music, fashion, and ICT.

Speaking during the ceremony on Sunday, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, explained that the centre after renovation, will be able to support skills acquisition and job creation for over 1 million Nigerians over the next five years.

He stated that the facility which was constructed in 1976, will help in unleashing the creative talents of Nigeria’s youths across multiple sectors.
“Harnessing the talents of our youths in the creative industries, will lead to the buildup of a more resilient economy.
“The Creative Center, which comprises Music, Movies, Fashion and ICT can be a key source of growth for our economy.”
The CBN governor added that the coubtry has the potential to earn over $20bn annually from the creative industry, and the National Theatre is expected to serve as the initial pilot for the Nigeria Creative Industries Centre, with other centres in Kano, Port Harcourt or Enugu to follow.
He added that: “Nigerians will be empowered with funds at single digits interest rate, high level training using state-of-the-art tools, and networks, that will enable them to turn their ideas into a reality.”
Similarly, speaking on behalf of the Federal Government, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stressed that the renovation work will not lead to a single job loss, instead, it will create more.
“Some 6,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase, while the completed project could generate up to an additional 600 permanent and 2000 to 3000 call-on/call-off jobs. This is as good as it gets.
Mr Mohammed stated that the government has decided to bring life back to the edifice at a cost of N25 billion under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) tagged the Lagos Creative and Entertainment Centre Project.
The project will be executed in two phases within 18 months—the first being the restoration and upgrade of the Theatre to its glory days at a cost of N7 billion and the second which entails the development of the adjoining fallow land at a cost of N18 billion.