A professor of Dramatic Literature and Film Studies has called for a fundamental rethinking of how performance is taught in Nigerian universities, proposing a new model designed to make theatre education more responsive to the country’s overlapping social, economic and political crises.
Professor Oja Paul Egwemi made the call while delivering the 27th Inaugural Lecture of Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU), Anyigba, titled “The Gowns We Wear, The Towns We Go: Rethinking Performance Curricula for Development in Nigeria Amid a Polycrisis,” on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at the university auditorium.
Prof. Egwemi argued that despite decades of investment in drama and film training, much of what is taught in Nigerian lecture halls fails to translate into practices that respond to the everyday realities of local communities.
He described Nigeria as currently navigating a “polycrisis” — a web of interconnected and mutually reinforcing challenges spanning governance, economic instability, insecurity, environmental stress and social fragmentation — and insisted that theatre training cannot remain confined within institutional walls if it hopes to remain relevant.
According to him, when properly embedded in university curricula, Theatre for Development (TfD) functions as both a pedagogical philosophy and an ethical stance, linking theoretical scholarship to lived social realities and turning the movement from classroom to community into a two-way learning process in which universities and communities become co-creators of knowledge.
Drawing on findings from a series of curricular TfD projects carried out over the past several years, Prof. Egwemi illustrated both the promise and the pitfalls of community-based performance work.
He cited the 2019 Ayah project, in which students and residents used participatory needs assessments to confront failures in the local school system, healthcare, water supply and market structures. While community committees succeeded in keeping the local school functional, the water and market initiatives stalled due to weak maintenance and inadequate follow-up — a outcome he said underscored how long-term community ownership determines whether such projects endure.
The 2021 Odolu TfD project offered a related lesson. Community participation was strong at the problem-identification stage but declined during script development and rehearsals, hampered by shifting storylines, domestic responsibilities and language barriers. Prof. Egwemi said the experience showed that consultation is not the same as genuine participation, and recommended that community members remain active collaborators from initial research through to post-performance dialogue and follow-up.
In the 2022 Ofabo project in Ofu Local Government Area, participatory research traced a severe local water crisis to neglect, limited public awareness and excessive dependence on government intervention. Prof. Egwemi pointed to the project as evidence of TfD’s interdisciplinary potential, noting that partnerships with fields such as microbiology for scientific water testing, alongside collaboration with external NGOs, can strengthen technical support and extend a project’s longevity.
He also referenced the 2024/2025 TfD programme in Ajagwumu, Dekina Local Government Area, as a demonstration of how community-based performance methods continue to evolve in response to pressing local issues.
Building on these case studies, Prof. Egwemi proposed his Polycrisis-Responsive Curricular Theatre for Development (PRCTfD) Model, which he said rests on five core pillars: Participatory Knowledge Production, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Digital and Community Communication Integration, Sustainability Through Community Ownership, and Impact Evaluation with Reflective Learning.
He urged universities to move away from short-term, semester-bound projects in favour of continuous, context-sensitive engagement that equips students to become reflective, socially conscious practitioners. The “gown,” representing academic authority, and the “town,” representing lived experience, he said, must interact continuously so that academic expertise genuinely listens to and learns from community wisdom.
Prof. Egwemi called on university, state and national bodies to provide sustained administrative coordination, funding and structural backing to integrate TfD into broader sectors such as health, education, environment and governance. He also proposed that evaluation metrics for performance studies move beyond conventional academic benchmarks to account for relational outcomes, process depth and long-term community impact, while urging that indigenous media, folk traditions and local languages be prioritised over externally imposed or purely technical performance structures.
“Performance education cannot be reduced to mere entertainment or economic utility,” he said, describing it instead as a national development imperative to build civic consciousness, foster dialogue and inspire collective action.
Earlier in the event, the Chairman of the Inaugural Lecture Committee, Professor S.S. Arogba, congratulated Prof. Egwemi on the milestone and commended his contributions to scholarship in Dramatic Literature and Film Studies.
In an address delivered on behalf of PAAU Vice-Chancellor Professor Salisu Ogbo Usman by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Rufai Sani Abdullahi, the university described the 27th Inaugural Lecture as a significant institutional milestone, coming barely a week after the 26th. Prof. Abdullahi noted that it was the tenth inaugural lecture delivered since the current administration assumed office on February 11, 2026, calling the sustained momentum evidence of a vibrant research culture taking root at the university.
Speaking further, Prof. Abdullahi commended Prof. Egwemi for addressing the critical gap between academic training and community needs, describing the distance between “the gowns we wear” and “the towns we go” as a vital national development imperative and stressing that performance education must travel the final mile to serve humanity. He said the lecture offered valuable perspectives for educators, policymakers and creative practitioners as Nigeria seeks evidence-based solutions to its complex societal challenges, and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to rigorous scholarship, teaching excellence and purposeful knowledge dissemination.
The event’s highlight was the presentation of the inaugural lecture certificate, plaque and medal to Prof. Egwemi. The lecture drew members of the University Governing Council, Management and Senate, academic and non-teaching staff, students, scholars from other institutions, religious and traditional leaders, and other distinguished guests from within and outside the university community.
