Two Short Plays

The two short plays, The Crocodile Killer and Born to Serve, focus on two different periods in the history of the Kalabari people of Rivers State, Nigeria. Set at the end of 19th century, after the abolition of Slave Trade, The Crocodile Killer relates the adventure of Young Briggs and his family who migrated in 1881 from Old Shipping in Elem Kalabari to Nyemoni now Abonnema, in search of a safe location to carry out their trade in palm oil.Born to Serve portrays life in Port Harcourt City immediately after the end of the Nigerian Civil War, which took place just a few years after the end of the British colonial rule in Nigeria in 1960. Thus, the two plays deal with the issue of leadership. They pinpoint that an autocratic, egocentric and indifferent leader only succeeds in creating disaffection in his subjects, which consequently retards or stagnates productivity in the establishment. But a leader who cares about the welfare of his subordinates, ends up eliciting their enthusiasm to work selflessly and devotedly for the progress and development of the establishment, community and nation as the case may be.