TRACKING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL #5 IN A MULTI-ETHNIC COUNTRY: IYORWUESE HAGHER’S AISHATU AND JULIE OKOH’S AISHA EXAMINED

Abstract

Nigeria is one of the 193 signatories to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) slated to be achieved by 2030. SDG #5 is the attainment of gender equality and empowerment of women. The country is reputed for its multiethnic configurations with attendant myriads of cultural imbalances that largely put the women at a disadvantage, thereby presenting a huge problem with reaching this goal by the deadline. This paper interrogates SDG #5 in Nigeria from the prism and interface of drama and its symbiotic relationship with society, deriving lessons in hindsight from Hagher’s Aishatu and Okoh’s Aisha, which were written before the SDGs were signed in 2015. Methodologically, the paper used qualitative content analysis with a focus on the interplay of language, characterization, and gender reading of the actions in the play as reflections of gender. This shows that an appreciable result has not been recorded as demonstrated by the wide margin and myriads of practices that discriminate and militate women from contributing to national development like their male counterparts. Thus, this paper recommends that, with less than a decade to the 2030 actualization deadline of the SDGs, critical stakeholders entrusted with the primary responsibility of bridging the gender gap and empowering women should wake up and take necessary actions