ABU theatre arts dept struggles after death of 3 lecturers

February 7th and 12th dealt the theatre for development communication and performing arts community a big blow when three of its erudite scholars, Prof. Samuel Kafewo, Dr. Martins Ayegba and post-graduate student, Miss Nana Aisha Ali and later on, Prof. Jenks Okwori died. Most hit asides their families, is the department, which had 15 lecturers […]

February 7th and 12th dealt the theatre for development communication and performing arts community a big blow when three of its erudite scholars, Prof. Samuel Kafewo, Dr. Martins Ayegba and post-graduate student, Miss Nana Aisha Ali and later on, Prof. Jenks Okwori died.
Most hit asides their families, is the department, which had 15 lecturers who taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses, but now with the monumental loss, has to struggle to cope with academic workload. The surviving 12 lecturers now have to split the teaching and supervising of undergraduate and post-graduate students between them. A job that was previously made  lighter by their late colleagues.
For Prof. Steve Abah, who was a friend and teacher of the late lecturers for 34 years, moving on without them is a very difficult task.
“It’s a difficult time for the department and for the Theatre for Development Centre, because the three of them were the core of the Centre. They shared the same principles. The methodologies with which they worked have over time become understood and internalised,” says Abah, who taught Okwori from the undergraduate to doctoral level. “How do I begin to groom people to fill in these gaps? At the same time, I must continue, because their legacies must be preserved. If this project dies, it means their legacy is lost and they won’t like it even in their graves.”
On what becomes of students registered for the Development Communication Course, for which the three were the bedrock, Abah said: “there are at least 100 new post-graduate students. Our work has been by group cooperation and sharing. Jenks was in the middle of it all. Many of us like Prof. Emmanuel Jegede, Steve Daniel and Emma Gana, were teaching. Students may connect at different levels and not in the same manner as they did with their late lecturers. We’ll need to forge a synergy and rapport to move on and work,” the sexagenarian worries.
“At the meetings we have had recently, we are looking outside the University to identify competent hands who, can teach and supervise, especially for our post-graduate students. It is an enormous amount of work the three of them did and not having them is like taking away three quarters of the staff,” he adds.
Abah who is also the director of University Advancement, a department that sources funds for developmental purposes, occupying this office meant he couldn’t take on as much responsibility as they did. “But now I have to. I hope to find people who share our visions and are looking to fill in these gaps,” the professor says helplessly.
“It is a large number that was lost to us at the same time,” says another lecturer, Mr. Lumumba Dodo. “We, lecturers were 15, now out of that number three were lost. The impact is greatly felt. One, perhaps, can be coped with, but not three.”
He adds that: “in terms of what they contributed, we have to re-adjust. Sam Kafewo was the Head of Department (HOD) and secretary to the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA). Jenks on the other hand had held different positions within the professional body. He was a fellow of the SONTA, one of the highest positions in the Centre of Development Communication. Because of his resourcefulness, he had been instrumental in the establishment of universities (in strategy etc), both at state and federal levels.”
For Professor Emmy Idegu: “the summary of the whole thing is; it is simply by the grace of God that we can cope. I do not even know if the vacuum created is manageable. The scenario is that death invaded the faculty and took away three solid friends and colleagues. The first challenge is emotional, just as we were coming out of the six-month old strike and trying to adjust. The former HOD is gone, same with the professor. I have worked with them for a minimum of 20 years.”
The work load, he said, is another matter. “Now the fate of the post-graduate students is hanging on those of us still here. The workload is massive. While they were here, we were managing, now it is greater. They specialised in areas crucial to theatre arts and communication development. One other challenge is keeping alive the ideals they stood and died for,” the theatre guru adds.
For Mrs. Rasheeda Liman, who did her first and second degrees in the department under the late lecturers before she took up a teaching job there, it has been a journey that started since 1997, first as their student and then later as a colleague.
“We always work together and hardly have weekends. These are people I saw every day. We operated as a family, because they were raised in that tradition and thus, brought us up so. For example, I cannot remember when I missed a single birthday of Prof. Kafewo’s child. Even when he was not married, I was his love messenger to his wife with whom I was roommate.
“Prof. Jenks was just laid to rest on Saturday, March 8 and two Mondays ago, was the first day we sat back to see what we could do. It is now that we are moving forward. It is only God that would support us as we go on. These are people who cannot be replaced for the next 20 years. But again, sometimes, these are the things that bring out the potentials in many and unravel the impact they had in us,” she notes.
Theatre students make up the second group most affected by the death of the three lecturers. “The main thing is that now that they are gone, we should use what they dropped in us. I remember how at each presentation, Prof. Jenks would say; ‘get ready to de-construct your mind and be prepared to construct a new one. Put aside religious and ethnic sentiments and open your minds to a new horizon,’” says Bolaji Adebukola, a post-graduate student.
A 400 level student, Sunday Bala Shadrach, recalls that lectures were supposed to have started after the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), classes were yet to begin when the foursome passed on.
“It has not been easy. It is just like having a set of teeth without incisors,” says Shadrach, adding that the other lecturers had to share the supervision of their final year projects between them.
Another 400 Level student, Suzan Owan, reveals that their proposed project topics were yet to be approved before the cold hands of death took away the lecturers who had already agreed to supervise them.                                             
An emotional Mrs. Esther Okwori, who Prof. Jenks married when she was only 19-years-old, described her late husband as an excellent man. “I feel so alone. I know there is no perfect human being, but I cannot find a more apt word to describe my husband. He pushed me from being nothing as an O’Level holder to having bachelor’s, two masters and now I am a PhD student, which I will defend in four months.
“As a human being, I’ll say I will not go for that defence, but when I think about all he did for me, I ask myself, ‘if I don’t, what would I have given in return to and rewarded him for the efforts he made? Do I disappoint him?’ This is what motivates me to go on and I won’t stop there. I will push myself to do more as he would have urged me to; if for nothing else, let it be for his memory.”
The business of the trio was development and they died ensuring that it spread and was sustained.