BEVERLY HILLS, April 05, (THEWILL) – Writers of Nigerian descent home and abroad were sort of disappointed last year after the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) cancelled the yearly prize it awards for literary excellence. The reason, as you may have guessed, was the raging virus that is now being gradually contained.
In February 2020, the gas company had already called for entries for the prose category and were set to hand over the 202 entries to the panel of judges. $100, 000 was up for grabs for the winner(s) if the most prestigious literary prize in Africa had run its course. But then, COVID-19 put an unexpected end to all that. A year and two months later, the virus shamed at last by man’s scientific ingenuity, the race for the company’s laureate for 2021 is now going swimmingly. How so?
NLNG not only recently handed over all the entries received to the panel of judges but also instituted a new advisory board “towards making the prize’s governance framework and brand stronger.”
Since the prize’s inception in 2004, Professor Ayo Banjo, professor emeritus, had been chairman of the Advisory Board. Now, another professor emeritus, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, has succeeded him. She is the first woman to fill that post. She is also the first female winner of the prize in Children Literature category in 2007, an award she co-won with Mabel Segun.
Two dons are to serve with Adimora-Ezeigbo as members of the Advisory Board. They are professors Olu Obafemi and Ahmed Yerima. Prof. Obafemi had been past president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and the Association of Nigerian Authors. He is a playwright, poet and currently professor of English at the University of Ilorin. A poet and playwright as well, Prof. Yerima won the gas company’s prize in the Drama category in 2006 and currently teaches at Redeemer’s University, Ede in Osun state.
At a virtual ceremony held to introduce the new Advisory Board members and to hand-over the entries, NLNG’s General Manager for External Relations and Sustainable Development, Mrs Eyono Fatayi-Williams, expressed appreciation to members of the erstwhile Advisory Board led by Banjo for their “selfless service.”
Professors Ben Elugbe and late Jerry Agada were members. The past Advisory Board, Fatayi-Williams said at the virtual meeting, “oversaw the growth of the prize into Africa’s foremost literature competition best known for its principles of excellence and integrity.”
Just like the past members, Fatayi-Williams said the current Advisory Board members are “scholars who have distinguished themselves in their areas of specialisation and have contributed significantly to Literature in Nigeria who will bring their enormous wealth of experience to the prize.”
Mrs. Fatayi-Williams further stated that the pandemic impacted on the established process of the prize but that it also presented other opportunities on how literature can be marketed and consumed. She called on writers to seize the moment, stating that it was time to push out creative works as people spend more time at home, reading.
The entries were handed over to the current panel of judges led by Professor Toyin Jegede who is a professor of Literature in English at the University of Ibadan. She is a Fellow of the British Council of Nigeria, Centre for Afro-American Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal, Comparative Literature Association, University of South Africa, Pretoria. She has also served as an international panellist for the Commonwealth Book Prize for Literature.
The other judges are Professor Tanimu Abubakar and Dr. Solomon Azumurana. Professor Abubakar is a professor of Literature in the Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is also a member of Nigerian Academy of Letters. Dr. Azumurana is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lagos.
The Prize runs concurrently with the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism (also sponsored by NLNG) for which four entries were received in 2020. The literary criticism prize carries a monetary value of N1 million.
For now, the writing community in Nigeria are delighted over the company’s decision to start off the prize COVID-19 or not.
Senior journalist, poet and playwright, Uzor Maxim Uzoatu told THEWILL he is more than pleased with NLNG’s decision not to “completely abandon the prize.”
In an interview during the weekend, Uzoatu said: “It’s good that they didn’t abandon the prize completely because of COVID-19. Coming back to the prize shows they have their eyes on the prize which is the essence,” insisting that “this idea of bringing in Akachi-Ezeigbo as chairperson of the Advisory Board is good because Banjo has done a sterling job. We believe that Akachi-Ezeigbo should be as diligent his predecessor.”
Another senior journalist, Muyiwa Moyela concurs with Uzoatu. On the return of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, he told THEWILL thusly: “It’s a good omen not just for arts and literature but it also shows that things are returning back to near normal status and, additionally, to reenergise the arts and literary industry. It is also a timely tonic to the industry. It will help to provide much needed boost to winners because they will reinvest it in themselves for literary production.”
As for Tony Kan, poet and public relations man, he agrees with Uzoatu and Moyela, saying that though “2020 was a difficult year and many events on the cultural calendar were impacted, the NLNG sponsored Nigeria prize for literature was not exempt. So it is pleasing to see the prize cycle return and as we look forward to the minting of a new literary laureate we are grateful to the NLNG for keeping faith with Nigerian literature and sustaining the prize.”
About the Author
Michael Jimoh is a Nigerian journalist with many years experience in print media. He is currently a Special Correspondent with THEWILL.
