Prof. SOYINKA reveals why he accepted renaming of National Arts Theatre after him

Thursday, October 2, 2025 - Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, explained why he accepted the decision to rename the National Arts Theatre, Lagos, after him.

Soyinka said he never believed the edifice could be renovated, noting that he had considered it irredeemable until the recent revamp by the Bankers’ Committee.

Speaking at the reopening of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, he admitted that he accepted the honour with mixed feelings, despite being a critic of past leaders who appropriated public monuments.

“I have to stand up in public and watch my name being put up as yet another appropriator. It just didn’t seem very well for me,” he said.

He added that he was willing to “eat his words” if the monumental turnaround of the theatre was the price of the renaming