The Quest for Socio – Political Change and National Development in Irobi's Cemetery Road

Nigeria as a country is currently grappling with social vices that amongst others include high rate of corruption, drug abuse amongst the youths, kidnapping and banditry as well as inept leadership. The country has enormous human and natural resources but remains underdeveloped when compared to some countries in the western world. This paper looks at some factors that keeps Nigeria underdeveloped. It argues that military dictatorship is not a good form of government when compared to democracy which the country currently enjoys. The paper advocates for the reduction of social vices in our society through literary drama which is a medium of information dissemination leading to the growth and development of our society. It also adds to the body of existing knowledge on how literary drama is used in developing our society. The paper draws from Karl Marx's social conflict theory which argues that as long as inequality exists in our society, there must be conflicting interests, thus leading to change and development. Esiaba Irobi's Cemetery Road is used as a paradigm to demonstrate that when employed properly, drama could be used in bringing development and socio political change in our society. It concludes by telling us that for our society to be good and attain her maximum development potentials, we must eschew all forms of corruption. This is possible by having a good educational system as well as accepting democracy as a better form of government.