Case study

Theatre helps explore citizenship

Nigerians can explore their ideas of identity and citizenship through theatre. Songs, stories, dance and dialogue drawn from their everyday life help them with this.

Researchers from the Theatre for Development Centre in Nigeria used a combination of theatre, participatory learning and action, and interviews which built on notions of 'conversations'. They held 'conversations' about citizenship, entitlements and exclusion which gave several Nigerians the space to reflect and communicate concerns.

Community members assessed where they stood in relation to members of other communities, local government and the state.

The researchers found:

• Citizens in Nigeria told stories of frustration about their identities in relation to geographical location, ethnicity, religion and gender: the country's colonial past has exacerbated these feelings.
• Citizens say that according to the constitution, citizenship is determined by ancestry and by being born in Nigeria. In practice, however, Nigerians insist on ancestry as the true and recognisable form of citizenship.

Researchers discussed solutions for problems with identity and citizen participation with community members. They found people see the crisis within a larger frame of politics: many believed political leaders were manipulating ethnicity and religion for political reasons. They see good governance (principles and practices that neither played on nor emphasised ethnicity and religion) as the route to citizenship rights.

This was a challenge for the research as it raised some important questions to explore further:

• Is ethnic identity so strong in Nigerians, that it prevents a common sense of nationhood?
• Has the state failed to promote principles of citizenship independent of ethnic identities?

Oga Steve Abah and Jenkeri Okwori
Theatre for Development Centre, Department of English and Drama, Ahmadu Bello University, PO Box 399, Samuru-Zaria, Nigeria
ogaabah@yahoo.com
drjenks123@yahoo.com

See also

'A nation in search of citizens: Problems of citizenship in the Nigerian context' by Oga Steve Abah and Jenkeri Okwori, in Inclusive Citizenship: Meanings and Expressions, Zed Books: London, edited by Naila Kabeer, 2005

Geographies of citizenship in Nigeria, Tamaza Publishing Company for Theatre for Development Centre, Ahmadu Bello University: Zaria, edited by Oga Steve Abah, 2005

Views expressed on these pages are not necessarily those of DFID, IDS, id21 or other contributing institutions. Copyright remains with the original authors but (unless stated otherwise) any article may be copied or quoted without restriction, provided both source (id21, insights) and authors are properly acknowledged and informed. Copyright © 2006 id21. All rights reserved.