With the completion of the upgrade of the National Arts Theater (NAT), the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has said the creative sector which the national edifice caters to is projected to generate $25 billion.
This he said will also trigger other collaborations that will help boost the Nigerian economy. Speaking during a tour of the refurbished NAT, a task that was undertaken by the Bankers Committee, Cardoso said the upgrade of the theater “will be a great catalyst” for the revenue generation potential of the creative sector.
“It is estimated that the creative sector can potentially generate about $25 billion… with the prosperity of the creatives I believe it will serve as a very powerful signal to the potentials for collaboration. Because once something like this is successful, others will take a cue, and it will speak for itself.
“I am very certain that the partnership that has taken place between the private sector and public sector that has resulted in this spirit, in conjunction with the Nigerian people, will take us to the next level,” he said.
Speaking on the work done at the NAT, Cardoso said it is “highly commendable, and one does have to commend the vision and the resources of the bankers committee for doing this. It has been a long, hard road, and if it was not for the belief and the commitment of those sponsors, this would never be realized, and indeed, it would have been a great disservice to our country.
“Embedded in what we see here is a lot of the history and culture of the Nigerian people, and if it was not for the fact that they had the vision and were determined to surmount all the obstacles in getting here, we wouldn’t be here today.
“So, for me as a Lagosian, I grew up here, I saw this in 1977 when we had FESTAC. We used to come here to do different events, and we are very proud of what we had as Lagosians. Sadly, years later, due to lack of maintenance and a whole host of things, the edifice, which was iconic at the time, unfortunately, fell into a state of disrepair and abandonment. So to have been able to see this massive transformation to a world class structure is again a testimony to the Nigerian spirit.
“I think that for those who are going to be using this, and for those whom this is going to be home to their profession, it is a giant step forward, and it is something that we all as Nigerians should be extremely proud about.”
