Controversy trails final stage of National Theatre’s concession plan

BY ADA DIKE

Two weeks after the General Manager of the National Theatre, Lagos, Mr. Kabir Yusuf, announced the final stage of National Theatre, LAgos Concession plan, some stakeholders have alleged that he deviated from the real outcome of the result.

This is coming up after Yusuf had a press briefing on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 in which he named Topwide Apeas/Chris Michael Limited as the preferred bidder and Calzada Nigeria Limited as the reserved bidder for the concession of the fallow land at the complex for the provision of Five Star Hotel, International Standard Duty-Free Shopping Mall, Multi-level Car Park, Land and Water Recreation Parks, Office Buildings and so on.

Yusuf, according to reports said the two companies were among the three that submitted technical and financial bids in line with the concession plan and emphasised that the companies were selected after their technical and financial bids were opened and evaluated by a special team, consisting of representatives of the National Theatre and its transaction advisers, BGL Plc, under the supervision of the official regulator of the project the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Committee (ICRC).

Newswatch Times learnt that he said the result has been certified by the ICRC and the companies have been communicated to accordingly. “The next stage of this transaction is negotiation and the preparation of the Final Outline Business Case (OBC) for the approval of the Federal Executive Council, after which the project will commence,” he said.

Commenting on the announcement of the preferred bidder and reserved bidder by the GM of the National Theatre, Lagos, some stakeholders have accused of selecting his own choice.

Federal government, according to a source, is genuinely but very loosely interested in concessioning the National Theatre, Lagos, because there were a lot of pressures based on the fallow land around there. “That is what everyone of them was interested in, not the theatre itself but, I am aware that those in culture ensure that anybody that wants to get that place concessioned must ensure that the National Theatre for what it stands for today is maintained. So in some of the proposals they gave out that was weighed, the government appointed an agency that is responsible for looking into such things, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to oversee the project and the federal government paid some money to BGL plc to do that job, to oversee the bidding process and money was also given to the National Theatre management as well as people in the ministry to do tour (road show),” the source explained.

 The source queried why a road show should be done abroad which gulped millions of Nigeria.

The source further said that, at the end of the day, they called for bids and BGL Plc did its work and passed it to the ministry and they chose the preferred bidder.  “But they have been intrigues going on,” the source revealed.

Reacting to the intrigues, the source said the GM of the theatre did not follow the recommendation of BGL Plc and alleged that Yusuf took it upon himself that role of transaction supervisor, that is why he issued a press conference and announced the company he recommended as the preferred bidder whereas, he is supposed not to be part of the committee.

 “Anyway, he did not do anything until former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration ended. In fact, he wrote a letter to Calzda Nigeria Limited saying that they were the reserved bidder, which is contrary to the fact. That is what he is exploiting now, trying to angle himself as if he has done the right thing. This man is on a course to sidetrack a process that will bring change to the National Theatre itself because I have seen some of the documents presented and the proposals of both parties shortlisted. Even in terms of financial outlay, Calzada Nigeria Limited is 144billion naira, whereas the other one is 103billion naira. In terms of economic and financial perspective, in terms of experience and which company has capacity and support, Calzada Nigeria Limited has the support of Afrexim bank. What endeared me to the preferred bidder’s bid was the fact that they were able to extract from them the independence of the National Theatre. The National Theatre will still be National Theatre with investment of over 12billion naira to renovate the place and still remain something belonging to the federal government.

“What they are interested in is the land to do their business, their entertainment city. My own concern there is that the National Theatre will still come back to us and all the things we had there before will come back but on an improved level,” the source emphasised.

Commenting on the National Theatre itself, concerning what it was, what it has been and the future, a source said there was beginning to be a kind of restoration but things started going down because they stopped the churches that were bringing money from using the place.

“The popular Abegi joint is the only bubbling place at the National Theatre premises and they have turned the place to a brothel. Even, homosexuals allegedly hang around there at night to meet their partners.”

The source called for complete change in the National Theatre, Lagos. “The change must be total in terms of the theatre,” he added.

Attempts to get Kabir react to the latest development proved abortive as his phone number was not available.

It would be recalled that, in a bid to rebrand the theatre, the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria considered the involvement of Public Private Partnership for the turning of the national Theatre as Entertainment City. On September 20, 2012, the past Minister of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, inaugurated a committee which included the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Federal Ministry of Works, Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Committee (ICRC) and the National Theatre.

After advertisements on local and international media on “Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) for the concession of the fallow land around the National Theatre in line with the Master Plan (Nigeria Entertainment City)” through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in accordance with the ICRC Act 2005 and National Policy on Public Private Partnership, the National Theatre held four (4) Investor Road Shows to shop for reputable local and international investors in four locations in Lagos (Nigeria) on November 6, 2014, London (United Kingdom)on November 13 and 14, 2014, Dubai (United Arab Emirate) on November 16 and 17, 2014 and Johannesburg (South Africa) on December 1 and 2, 2014.

At a press briefing in December last year, Yusuf revealed that 11 consortia namely; Resilient Africa Proprietary Limited, CCECC Nigeria Limited, Afrebay U.S.A, Quippo Energy Nigeria Private Limited, Neon Holdings Consortium, Trevari Group, Causeway Project Limited, Calzada Limited, RMB Westport and Chrismichaels Limited/Topwide Apeas, indicated interest to participate in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project to provide Five Star Hotel, International Standard Duty-Free Shopping Mall, Multi-level Car Park, Land and Water Recreation Parks, Office Buildings and Facility Management.

He emphasized that, as indicated in the advertisements, the bids were opened on December 22, 2014, in the presence of the companies, the bids were analysed by a team which comprised their transaction Advisers and National Theatre.

The analysis, according to him, was observed by the regulator of the PPP Transactions, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

“From the analysis, seven companies were prequalified. They included: CCECC Nigeria Limited, Calzada Limited, Chrismichaels Limited, Resilient Africa, Quippo Energy Nigeria Private Limited, RMB Westport and Neon Holdings Consortium. In the light of above, the seven companies issued with the Request For Proposal (RFP) in continuation of the process,” he added.

After the bidding processes and emergence of the preferred bidder and the reserved bidder, some stakeholders therefore, advised the federal government to look into the outcome of bids and ensure that the real preferred bidder is selected.