Celebrating Village Headmaster (VHM) at 50, surviving cast, crew as well as stakeholders gathered recently in Lagos to chart a new path on the essence of drama in national development, Chinyere Elizabeth Okoroafor reports.
Themes of The Village Headmaster, one of Nigeria’s most popular TV drama series now rested, can never be forgotten by those who watched the longest- running television drama series in Nigeria.
The drama, whose characters were household names, reinforced traditions, ethics and values before it was rested in 1988.
It made its debut in 1968; each episode dwelt on various social problems in the society. There was something to learn and ponder on in every episode.
Moderating a roundtable with the theme Drama as a Tool for national development, former Director-General Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Dr Nasir Danladi Bako, reminisced on Village Headmaster‘s heydays, the impact it created and the lessons learnt. He wondered why storytelling in contemporary Nigeria is evolving towards futile trends, instead of issues on ethics and values that can project the nation.
Responding, Revd. Bayo Awala, a former producer of Village Headmaster, said theme should be the first consideration of any creative work.
”The problem is that many dramatists are confused because what they give out are not impactful. Drama is supposed to evoke emotion and provoke a call for action. Nigerians are ignorant of their environment. Drama of advocacy, propaganda is the kind of drama that we should pursue as a developing nation. If you are a creative writer, let it show. A drama that will intervene in the economic situation of this nation is sine qua non,” he said.
For Chief Executive Officer Syntel-Aza and former NTA content producer, Deborah Ogazuma, drama can teach a lesson without been didactic.
Veteran filmmaker, Femi Odugbemi, said when the creative industry expanded, a gap was created between early artistes and those who are there now and that didn’t help.
“During the time of the Village Headmaster, there was a tradition in NTA of a certain model for storytelling. There was a philosophical foundational understanding that storytelling is medicine. It can be a poison or it can heal. The difference between what we are doing today and what we were doing then is ignorance.
“To close that gap, we could close it through our schools. Unless you are building the storyteller, the story is bound to be mush,” he said.
Veteran actress, Joke Silva’s argument was simple; storytellers must look at their environment and write stories that reflect it.
But musician and actor, Dede Mabiaku blamed the government for not taking up the responsibility of modifying the nation’s image through drama. He said during the Village Headmaster and others, the government should have seen it to propagate the unity of the nation, the strength of the people, the power of the people and the economic development of the people and drama should have been the tool and should be the tool and the propelling force.
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‘’Through drama you develop what the people should focus on in education. Education doesn’t have to be strictly western. Education about who we are and what we are,” he said.
But Mabiaku believed that storytellers in Nigeria could get it right when they upheld culture and tradition. Quoting Fela’s take on the essence of culture and tradition, he said, “When we be pikin, Papa and Mama be teacher, when we dey for school, teacher na teacher. When we go university, lecturer na teacher. When we start to work government na teacher, who be government teacher? It is culture and tradition.”
He added that what drives culture is drama. ”It is the culture and tradition of the Japanese, Chinese and Indian that is moving them and propelling them the way they are today. What drives a culture? It is the drama, the stories they share with themselves that move from generation to generation. The more we don’t harness the essence of what we are, who we are becomes irrelevant and inconsequential,” he said.
Former NTA Director-General Dr Christopher Kolade said since drama is a resemblance of reality, it is important that storytelling project life as it is for the purpose of edifying the audience.
“For drama to be a tool for national development there has to be a belief in what you are telling. I was told many years ago that those who work in drama must apply some suspension of disbelief. When I watch Femi’s work on TV for example, I know that there’s something they are telling me. What they are dramatising is either what I am or what I want to be, so because of that, I am willing to watch it. Any generation that wants to use drama as a tool for development must learn about where they are and where they want to go. If you want to develop young people of this generation, you must use the things they need because they have many options to choose from and this is what creative must always remember,” he added.
The session also featured contributions from artists, such as Joke Sylva and Kemi Lala. On the second round of discourse themed, Drama as a tool for national unity, Prof. Duro Oni, Bassey Ekpenyong and Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett also contributed.
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