Department of Performing Arts

Academic Brief
The Department of the Performing Arts of the University of Ilorin was established in 1981 with student strength of sixteen (16) and the pioneering academic staff of three which were made up of Professor Atta Anan Mensah, Dr. (now Professor) Akanji Nasiru and Mr. Yulisa Amadu Maddy, with  Professor Atta Anan Mensah as Head of Department. Twelve other direct entry students later joined the sixteen students the following year.  In 1983, Dr.(Mrs)  (Later Professor)  Zulu Sofola who joined the staff body from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria  became the Head of the Department with the growth and development of the Department.  This phase of stability in the development of the Performing Arts marked the enlistment of Mrs. Bunmi Babarinde–Hall to teach Dance in 1984.  Others such as Dr. Ayo Akinwale (now Professor Akinwale) and Dr. Bode Omojola, Dr. Segun Oyewo, Mr. Sam Amusan, Mr. Sunday Enessi Ododo (now Ph.D holder), Miss Ijeoma Akunna, Mr. R.A. Musa (now Ph.D holder and name changed to AbdulRasheed A. Adeoye) Mr. Taiye Adeola and Mr. Felix Akinshipe later joined the team of staff. Of significance however, was the employment of former students who graduated from the department as academic staff in the department.  That significant phase in the history of the Performing Arts Department began with the entry of Mr. (now Dr.) Sunday E. Ododo into the staff list of the department and later also as Ag. Head of Department.  Today, the department can boast of about seven academic staff members who graduated from the department for further development.
The vision and the philosophy of the Department blossomed and crystallized during the headship of Professor ‘Zulu Sofola. Before her demise in 1995, she initiated a postgraduate programme for the department which had additional inputs from subsequent Heads of Department before it was approved in 2002. This was the year that Professor Ziky Kofoworola joined the department as a contract staff following his sojourn in the United States of America. His presence strengthened the postgraduate programme tremendously as its first co-ordinator. Since its establishment in 1981 the department had graduated many students who are gainfully employed in several spheres of life – Education; Council for Arts and Culture, Newspapers, National Television Authority, National Radio Stations, National Theatre, Banking, Advertisement Organizations etc.
On the postgraduate programme, the Department has produced four sets of Master of Arts students and two Ph.D. candidates since its commencement in 2002. Currently, there are over two hundred (200) students at the undergraduate level in the Department as well as 23 postgraduate students, 9 of whom are at the Ph.D. level.


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