Ahead of preparations for the hosting of the Nigerian Universities Theatre Arts Festival (NUTAF) 2013, the Theatre and Cultural Students Association (TACSA) of the Department of Theatre and Cultural Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), have set up and inaugurated a-100 man Planning Committee.
The Committee, which was set up by the Acting President of Nigerian Universities Theatre Arts Students Association (NUTASA), the umbrella body of all Theatre Arts Students in Nigerian universities, Hassan Usman Danjuma, was inaugurated by the Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, at the 500-Seater Arts Theatre, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, on Wednesday, July 25, 2012.
In his briefing, Dr. Ayakoroma, a member of the Hall of Fame of Society of Nigerian Theatre Artistes (SONTA), the umbrella body of Theatre Arts lecturers in Nigerian Universities, told members of the Committee to be committed towards the festival, in order to achieve the success for which NUTAF was known.
He said: “You were chosen because the executive members believe you can contribute towards NUTAF 2013. It is left for you to be dedicated, so that you handle the programme very well in a way that everybody, including you as members of the committee, will be happy for the success you record. NUTAF started in 1981; we started it, and sustained it. So, if you achieve success, you can sustain it. NUTAF is a festival through which you can gain a lot, as Theatre Arts student.”
Also speaking, the Staff Adviser, Hajia Lantana Ahmed, advised the Committee members to be disciplined, warning that anyone who misbehaves will be removed from the Committee.
On his part, the Head of Department, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura, said students must ensure they make the department and the entire university proud by hosting their fellow students from all the universities in Nigeria very well.
“This Department has the tradition of hosting events very well. We hosted SONTA 2010 and it was successful. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Shamsdeen Amali, is the President of Board of Trustees of SONTA. So, you have to do things in a way that people will be proud of NSUK. He will be happy about it,” he said.
Speaking to Nico news, Danjuma, who is also the President TACSA, said the committee was set up to enable them start planning on time. “We have to plan ahead of time. Though it is coming up in 2013, we have to plan, because NUTAF is a big festival. There is no undergraduate student of Theatre Arts in Nigerian Universities today, who has seen NUTAF. In a meeting at the University of Calabar, where I was made the Acting President of NUTASA in the course of the efforts of SONTA to bring back NUTASA, we, TACSA, were also given the right to host NUTAF. It was a tough bidding process, but it finally fell on NSUK to host. So, we have decided to set up 10 Committees made up of 100 members. NUTAF is a big festival because all the Departments of Theatre (including Dramatic and Performing) Arts in Nigeria will partake.”
Nwagbo Nnenyelike
Corporate Affairs