Two Nigerian companies, Topwide Apeas and Jadeas Trust, have called on the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, and the Board of the National Arts Theatre, to prevail on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Bankers’ Committee to cease all plans for the redevelopment of the National Arts Theatre Complex, Iganmu, Lagos.
The call comes on the heels of recent media reports that the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee have been given the go-ahead by the federal government to transform the National Arts Theatre Complex and the surrounding fallow ground into a creative industry park.
Topwide Apeas and Jadeas Trust, who are a part of a consortium comprising a team of international financial institutions and private sector partners, are claiming the rights to develop the structure via a concession granted by the ICRC.
Topwide Apeas Limited, through a letter written by its law firm, Associated Attorney, and addressed to the ICRC, copying the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee, stated that they had emerged the preferred bidders to develop the national monument following a series of negotiations that started in 2003 with the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, and later the ICRC.
The agreement was sealed by a Memorandum of Understanding that mandated both companies to jointly execute the project via a harmonised Master Plan and under the terms of the project endorsed by the BPE and ICRC.
Speaking on behalf of consortium, Prince Chris Ogan rhetorically asked, “Is it a crime to follow due process in a Public Private Partnership in Nigeria? You conclude concession agreement negotiations with the federal government team and like a magician another entity appears to say we are taking over the subject asset. We and our foreign partners are alarmed, to say the least.”
When contacted, chairman of the Board of the National Arts Complex, Hon. Ibrahim Dailami, however, debunked media reports claiming CBN has taken over the national monument. (The Nation)
