FUOYE don bags SONTA’S Lifetime Achievement Award

The Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), the foremost professional and academic body for theatre and performing arts practitioners in Nigeria, has conferred its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award on Professor Taofiq Olaide Nasir, a distinguished don at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, at its just-concluded 40th annual conference held on August 19, 2026, at Lead City University, Ibadan.

The award recognises Professor Nasir’s over two decades-long contributions to theatre scholarship, applied drama, and the development of dramatherapy as an academic and clinical discipline in Nigeria and across Africa.

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Professor Nasir holds the distinction of being the first professor of dramatherapy in Africa, a milestone that places him at the forefront of a still-emerging field on the continent. His scholarship has focused heavily on the therapeutic uses of drama, applying theatre techniques to address issues such as trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, child sexual abuse recovery, and drug abuse rehabilitation, among other social and psychological challenges.

He has consistently advocated the formal inclusion of drama therapy as a course of study in Nigerian tertiary institutions, noting the shortage of specialists in the field despite its growing relevance to mental health and social intervention in the country.