The 50th anniversary of Nigerian drama The Village Headmaster will be marked by an event next month organised by stakeholders in the show.

The surviving cast and crew of the series, together with the National Television Authority (NTA), minister of information and culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed and others, have come together to celebrate the milestone.

The Village Headmaster was created by the late Chief Segun Olusola and directed by Sanya Dosunmu, who is now His Royal Majesty the Olowu of Owu.

Dele Osawe, who played teacher Fadele in the series, said: “The vintage TV drama series will be 50 years old in October 2018 and the surviving members of cast and crew, the NTA and relevant stakeholders want to commemorate the 50 years of The Village Headmaster.”

While further details of the event have yet to be revealed, Osawe spoke of the wider significance of The Village Headmaster in Nigeria. “Presently, history has been relegated to the background,” he said. “Our culture has been bastardised. Corruption is worshipped and glorified in different forms. We have lost our past glory of honesty, integrity and cultural pride.”

When the show was on air, he added, “families were united under one roof on Sunday and Thursday evenings. Families were reminded of our village cultural background. After all, communities started as villages, where tradition and culture play tremendous role in our lives.”

The Village Headmaster was Nigeria’s longest-running television soap opera. It debuted as a radio show in 1958 and aired as a TV show from 1968 to 1988 on NTA.

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