When President Muhammadu Buhari eventually appoints a Minister of Culture, that person will have his or her job cut out, particularly when it comes to ending the controversy the planned concession of the fallow land around the National Theatre has generated. As things stand now, there are two preferred bidders for the evidently lucrative entertainment city that is proposed to grace the fallow land.
The Theatre’s General Manager, Kabiru Yusuf, had, at a media briefing on Tuesday, June 9, given reporters an update on plans to transform the 20 hectares of fallow land around the complex into an entertainment city. The facilities include a five star hotel, shopping mall, offices, land and water parks, multi-level car park, offices complex and leisure and entertainment centres.
Yusuf had said that Topwide Apeas/Chris Micheal Limited had emerged the preferred bidder, while Calzada Nigeria Limited is the reserved bidder after a painstaking process supervised by all the relevant authorities.
However, documents seen by TheNiche indicate the contrary, as Calzada was recommended to the Ministry of Culture and the National Theatre by the transaction advisers, BGL Capital, as the preferred bidder.
The immediate past Minister of Culture, Edem Duke, had also written to Calzada, a consortium made up of AD Consulting, a leading Nigerian Architectural firm; AMDEC Group, a privately-owned property development and investment business recognised as South Africa’s leading developer of new urban lifestyles and supported by AFRIEXIM Bank, that it had been chosen as the preferred bidder.
Duke had also informed the consortium of a ground-breaking ceremony on May 21, which didn’t take place eventually, at the National Theatre.
Interestingly, the former minister also had cause to warn Yusuf, vide a strongly worded memo, that he was interfering with the concession arrangement contrary to laid down civil service procedures.
TheNiche learnt that both the head of a parastatal and his/her supervising minister have no powers under the law to get involved in any transaction above N100 million, but Yusuf was inserting himself into the process, hence the reprimand from Duke.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that Calzada is ready to invest up to N144 billion in the development of the entertainment city, while Topwide Apeas/Chris Michael Limited’s bid is in the area of N103 billion.
Findings further revealed that AFRIEXIM Bank is ready to commit $1 billion to Calzada for the development of the fallow land, and that AMDEC, a major partner in the consortium, built the popular Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Principal Partner of AD Consulting, Mrs. Jumoke Adenowo, is said to be the Technical Lead on the bid, while a former senator and chairman of the defunct Zoom Mobile, Annie Okonkwo, is said to be the representative of Topwide Apeas/Chris Michael.
Apart from the documents seen by TheNiche contradicting Yusuf’s claims, Calzada’s website proclaims it as the preferred bidder. The company states boldly on its website, CALZADANG.COM: “Calzada Limited is a special purpose vehicle who has emerged as the preferred bidders for the concession of the fallow land around the National Theatre. Lagos, Nigeria. Calzada is made up of a consortium of professional firms with world-class competence in architecture, real estate development, urban renewal and rejuvenation, international syndications, financing and construction.”
When contacted to clarify the issue, the Chief Executive Officer of BGL, Albert Okumagba, said his company’s work as adviser to the federal government on the concession process had since been done and that the only person who could comment was the minister or permanent secretary in the Ministry of Culture.
He said, “Direct all enquiries on that matter to the Ministry of Culture either through the minister of permanent secretary; we were working on the matter with the Federal Government”.
When TheNiche called the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, someone who said they were an officer in the ministry picked the phone and said Mrs. Ejele was in a meeting. The source could not say when she would be available for comments. A follow-up text message to the same phone number was ignored.
As things stand now, there is Yusuf’s official line stating that Topwide Apeas/Chris Micheal is the preferred bidder, while another set of documents claim Calzada is the preferred bidder.
