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More crossfire of legal tussle mare face the planned redevelopment of the National Theatre following the approval of the takeover by the Federal Executive Council without recourse to a petition made by the original concessionaire who had a development plan.

Business Hilights recalls that barely 24 hours after the handover ceremony between the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Bankers Committee (BC), the concessionaire wrote a high-powered petition to the Vice President.

However, before the latest government approval, there is nothing to show any form of understanding or settlement between the aggrieved concessionaire and the Bankers Committee.

The Federal Executive Council had on Wednesday approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as the Bankers’ Committee for the renovation of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after a meeting of the council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Mohammed said the CBN and Bankers’ Committee were willing to invest N21.89bn to renovate the National Theatre complex. He said the MoU provided that they would run the facility for 21 years before returning it to the Federal Government. Describing the development as ‘a landmark approval’, the minister said it would pave the way for investment in the creative industry as part of the resolve of the present regime to create at least one million jobs in the industry in the next three years. Mohammed said, “The President had in 2020 given approval to the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee to develop, refurbish, renovate the National Theatre and at the same time take over the adjoining lands to create a veritable creative industry where there will be four hubs: one each for films, music, IT and fashion.