"Theatre, Knowledge and Community Development" is the theme of a conference on three decades of Popular Theater/Theater for Development in Nigeria, February 24-March 1, 2008, at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. The conference is sponsored by the ABU Department of Theatre and Performing Arts Founded in 2002, Ahmadu Bello is the largest university in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The conference was originally billed for October 21-27, 2007, but had to be rescheduled because the university was closed. Presidential and state elections in April 2007 were marred by violent clashes, corruption allegations and widespread electoral irregularities. "Nigeria is mired in a crisis of governance," said Human Rights Watch in October 2007. "Eight years since the end of military rule, the country’s longest-ever stretch of uninterrupted civilian government, the conduct of many public officials and government institutions is so pervasively marked by violence and corruption as to more resemble criminal activity than democratic governance."

There is no information on the Web about the conference. CAN learned about it through an e-mail to CAN writer Jan Cohen-Cruz from her colleague Jenks Okwori of ABU's Department of Theatre and Performing Arts. Okwori invited her to come to the conference and asked her to circulate the news to CAN, adding, "We will be very grateful if you can send us some thoughts or even a provocative goodwill message." Anyone wishing to send "some thoughts" on the theme of the conference may communicate with Dr. Okwori at: drjenks123@yahoo.com.

There are a number of references to popular theater in Nigeria on the Web, locatable through Google.

Ahmadu Bello University

   

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