Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has offered candid insights into why he accepted the Federal Government’s decision to rename the National Theatre, Lagos, as the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, despite his long-standing criticism of public monuments being named after individuals.
Speaking at the event, Soyinka admitted that the honour came with “mixed feelings,” noting his reputation for opposing indiscriminate renaming of national assets by past leaders.
“I’m notorious for criticising personal appropriations of public monuments,” he said.
“Most times, everything is named after leaders, and I think only about 25 percent truly deserve it. At one point, I even publicly challenged one of your predecessors in Abuja over these naming ceremonies.”
However, Soyinka explained that after reflecting on the history of theatre in Nigeria and recalling the contributions of his predecessors, he decided it was a recognition he could not entirely dismiss.
“I just said someone has to carry the can, and if a group of bankers using some of my ‘money’ decide to honour me, what’s wrong with that?” He quipped.
The literary icon also revisited his past criticism of the National Theatre, describing it once as a “slum” and even jokingly advising organisers to “plant a bomb and blow it off.”
But he conceded that its recent rehabilitation had proved him wrong. “If eating one’s words produces a muscle like this, then it’s a very tasty set of words,” he remarked, commending those behind the restoration.
Reflecting on the building’s origins, Soyinka recalled that when the National Theatre was erected during the military era, it was mockingly nicknamed “the general’s hat” because of its roof design, which he said reflected little of Africa’s architectural intelligence.
Soyinka further disclosed that his acceptance of the honour was influenced by what he described as a “personal debt” owed by the building.
He recounted how two of his actors almost lost their lives during a performance years ago due to leaking roofs and faulty electrical wiring.
“I nearly lost two performers here when pools of water from the leaking roof met exposed electric wires. That’s how decrepit the place had become,” he said.
Although he admitted feeling “ambushed” by the government’s decision, likening it to being “shaved in the absence” as the late MKO Abiola once described, Soyinka concluded that the restored edifice had finally lived up to its potential.