Olufemi Obafemi

Olufemi Obafemi was born in Akutukpa Bunu, Kabba, in Kogi State, Nigeria. He had his elementary education in Kabba before moving to the Government Secondary School, Dekina and later Titcombe College, Egbe for his secondary education.[3] In 1975, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and later proceeded to England, where he obtained an MA in English (1975) at the University of Sheffield and a PhD (1981), also in English at the University of Leeds. His first play-Pestle on the Mortar, written while he was still an undergraduate at was produced in 1974 and was also broadcast by the Kaduna Broadcasting Corporation. He has also published a number of other plays like The New Dawn, Suicide Syndrome, Nights of a Mystical Beasts, Naira Has No Gender and more recently-The love Twirls of Adiitu-Olodunmare and Iyunade (2016[4]).

Obafemi is believed to have pioneered an experimental tool for revolutionary aesthetics in Africa, typifying the plays of second generation Nigerian and African dramatist. His work has also influenced the interpretation of radical drama among theatre scholars in West Africa in the 1980s and 90s. He has also contributed to advancing the discourse on post-feminist aesthetics in Nigeria drama to the engagement in material perception of society.[4]

He is an editorial consultant and columnist in several of Nigeria's national newspaper.

Obafemi was the chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Kwara State, and in 2004, he became the National President of the Association. He was also a Director of Research at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), a former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.[3] He is currently the National Chairman of the Nigerian Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria (REPRONIG)[June, 2019].[5]

1. Nigerian National Order Merit (NNOM), 2018[1]