Iyorwuese Hagher

Iyorwuese Harry Hagher, (born 25 June 1949) is a Nigerian professor of theatre for development, novelist, playwright, poet, politician, administrator and activist for social justice. He was a senator, cabinet minister, envoy and pro-chancellor of Afe Babalola University. He is renowned for his groundbreaking research on Kwagh-Hir theatre, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2019. Hagher is passionate about the issue of leadership. His plays are preoccupied with the search for true leadership and other solutions to Africa's socio-political problems. He is known to have engaged cultural diplomacy as a tool for foreign relations while serving as Nigeria's Ambassador to Mexico, and later High Commissioner to Canada. In 2019, he was a presidential aspirant, under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He is currently the president, African Leadership Institute, Dayton, Ohio, United States.

Background

Iyorwuese Hagher was born to the family of Tica Daniel Hagher Gbaaiko. His father and mother were both Christians. He was the only boy of the union which also had six girls. His father was a headmaster and missionary with the Dutch Reformed Missionaries of South Africa and worked as a field worker planting new stations and outreaches. Iyorwuese grew up sharing his parents with other children as his father adopted a lot of primary school children so they could get an education. As he would recount, he too belonged to the whole village and everybody brought him up.

His early life was in the village of Tse-Gbagir in Torov, present-day Ukum local government area of Benue State. It was a typical communal Tiv village. Growing up, he lived the village life: fishing, hunting, mingling, and eating anything in neighbouring homes, orchards, farms, and fields. The communality of the village imbued him with love and engendered in him the freedom to think, dream, and be adventurous.

As a primary school pupil, Iyorwuese witnessed a case of police brutality and abuse of power, when his father was arrested by the Tiv Native Authority Police during a class. His father's crime was being an active member of the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC). During Nigeria's first republic, the UMBC had been formed to struggle for the creation of the Middle Belt State from the large Northern Region and serve as an alternative minority voice in the Northern Nigeria Assembly which was dominated by the Northern People's Congress (NPC). On the occasion of his father's arrest, pupils were also arrested for tax evasion. As his father questioned police authority to carry out the arrests, he was brutalized with truncheons and while bleeding on his head, he was dragged out of the class. His father would later be charged with obstructing the police on lawful duty. He was jailed for six months before his acquittal by the Magistrate Court in Makurdi. Later, he was arrested again for being part of the UMBC revolts and jailed for over a year before his acquittal.

Iyorwuese Hagher is married to a lawyer and educationist, Nancy Ngiahiin Hagher. They have biological and non-biological children. He hails from Kasar, Katsina-Ala local government area of Benue State.

Education

Iyorwuese Hagher had his foundational education in the early 50s and early 60s in Zaki Biam.

Career

Iyorwuese Hagher's career cuts across academia, politics, administration, diplomacy, and advocacy.

Academia

After his compulsory National Youth Service Corps program in Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states), Hagher was appointed a pioneer staff of the Centre for Nigerian Cultural Studies and Drama Department at the Ahmadu Bello University as a graduate assistant at the age of 26. He taught and conducted research in African indigenous theatres. In 1990, he rose to the rank of a full university professor of Theatre and Drama for Development at the University of Jos, Plateau State. Hagher has published significant work on Tiv puppetry known as Kwagh-Hir, which is one of the forms he is known to have used in his development efforts. His theatre works are known to address issues of corruption, governance, health, and social vices.

Administration

Hagher was appointed the founding Director of the Benue State Arts Council in 1982. As head of the council, he worked with Tiv peasants in Central Nigeria using Kwagh-hir puppetry theatre as a social change agent. He also established the legendary award-winning Benue State Arts Council dance troupe.

Advocacy and associations

Iyorwuese Hagher was the Founding Chairman of the Association of Pro-chancellors of Private Universities of Nigeria (APPUN); Founder/Honorary President of Leadership Institute Nigeria and Director of the Association of Nigerians against Corruption (ANAC). He is at present Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Pro-Chancellors of Private Universities of Nigeria and President, of the African Leadership Institute, USA. He is also a mentor at the Graduate School of Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Hagher addresses International Youth Leaders at the UN, in New York, Aug. 2016