CORA-NLNG Book Party: Only the jury can democratise the prize!

View Point

By Anote Ajeluorou

SO much has been said about our beloved The Nigeria Prize for Literature. Some good, others very good and some very bad and smacks of a lack of home training in their acidic nature. When criticism descends to the level of insult, it becomes something else. As literary folks, we ought to conduct ourselves in decorous manner no matter how strongly we believe our views are. And they’re just what they are: view points. They could be taken or rejected.

And I have also argued, quite a truism, that if whatever you’re doing does not attract some level of scrutiny, it means it’s of no consequence. The Nigeria Prize for Literature is of great consequence, so great that it’s about the only consequential thing happening in Nigerian literature today. The momentous energy in the fiction publishing sector owes its resurgence to The Nigeria Prize for Literature, admirably sponsored by a gas company, NLNG. That’s why emotions about it tend to flare to gas-flaming points among Nigeria’s literati. They want the best for the prize; they believe it should serve the literary community better. I agree. But as is often said, the best way to do something better is to do it yourself! E shock you? Yes, I’ve challenged social media elder rat Pa Ikhide to devote part of his retirement dollars acquired over the years working in American to setting up a prize and make it a model for others, including The Nigeria Prize for Literature, to emulate. That was last year. What did he do instead? He blocked me on Facebook, fiam. Ah ah ah ah! So, mighty Pa Ikhide cannot take criticism but can dish it out free of charge with the most fowl or venomous mouth or pen ever? (laughs)

It’s therefore with dismay that so much uncouth things are being said about a prize designed to lift Nigeria literature beyond ordinariness. In the unlikely event that the prize organisers, a gas company, decides that enough of insults for doing good for Nigerian literature, what then? Will those manufacturing insults institute another prize? And why haven’t other prizes risen up to stand alongside or rival or even do better than this one instituted by a gas company, NLNG? So let’s be guided in our utterances. A child tends his only tuber of yam in the fire carefully, so it doesn’t get burnt!

There was a time Cadbury’s Prize instituted a prize that ANA managed. Have these critics asked why that prize stopped? Cadbury’s is still in existence. Is it not about time they prodded Cadbury’s to reinstate that prize? Etisalat Prize for Literature also made waves in about three editions. What happened? Where is it now? Who has approached MTN, Glo or Airtel to institute another one in its place?

Olubunmi Familoni (2nd left) receiving his literary prize award last year

Many do not know the history behind the existence of The Nigeria Prize for Literature. If they do they will cease fire on the needless and sometimes baseless criticisms. Writers like you and I made it happen. Yes! So why haven’t you gone ahead to ask any of the existing Nigerian companies to set up one? Or do you think the prize just fell from heaven? Yeah. A few individuals, writers like you and me criticising the prize today, met then management of NLNG and proposed that a literary prize be established. The gas company saw the merit as a pro-Nigerian company and bought the idea. But they’re a company that ordinarily wouldn’t have anything to do with literature. Science is the primary source of their personnel. So why literature? But since literature came knocking on their door first, they couldn’t say no. There you have it. I have deliberately skipped naming names for obvious reasons. Do your research and you’d hold your fire.

Anyway, the prize came into being in 2004. But as a gas company, they also needed to balance the equation. Enter The Nigeria Prize for Science as counter part. In its 20-year history, only twice was the literature prize not awarded – 2009 (poetry) & 2015 (children’s literature)! But the science prize? Not less than five (5) times – the prize was not awarded. Now, have you ever heard the science people utter a murmur because ‘their’ prize was not awarded? Nada. Or is it that they don’t have social media accounts to write all manner of diatribes?

So, there you have it!

Anyway, Dr. Jumoke Verissimo who had been longlisted twice for the prize has said or all. sadly, many of those criticising don’t have a book to their names! She said, and quite correctly too, that the prize organiser, NLNG is NOT an Arts Council. All of Nigeria’s 36 states, including the FCT, have Arts Councils. Why are they not looking the way of culture, arts and or literature? Write proposals to them to set up prizes, festivals, carnivals or whatever you think will help lift the local arts and culture community. Let’s not kill the lone goose that lays the golden eggs! Let’s not treat NLNG the way Nigeria treats the Niger Delta, the source of the oil that oils the country!!!

Years back, agitations were made to include foreign-based writers that were initially excluded, because the prize organisers wanted to give local writers a voice and resources. But there was an outcry against this policy. Now that they’re included, many are crying that foreign-based writers dominate the longlist. In the last few years, only about two or three foreign-based made it to the longlist or shortlist. Only Romeo Oriogun won it after Chika Unigwe and Esiaba Irobi many years ago, as foreign-based writers. All other winners have been home-based writers. So what’s the noise about? Write a great book like these ones have done and you’d be announced and annointed. Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia (2021), Obari Gomba (2023) and Olubunmi Familoni (2024) are all based in Nigeria; they won the prize in the last four years. Again, why the noise?

Also, some have said: NLNG should help local publishers. Really? This is a prize for the best book, not best publisher, please. In any case, Africa Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM) has instituted a prize for publishers and it’s worth USD$20,000! Happy now? Nigeria’s Cassava Republic Press won the inaugural edition last. Upwardly mobile fiction publisher, Masobe Books, has two books in the longlist just released. I’m any case, publishers are business organisations that can approach banks for loans. Can a writer do that? No, of course! Let’s wake up the Arts Councils (they are modelled after Britisih Council, Goethe, Alliance Francaise, etc) to their roles and extend grants to publishers. As it’s done in Brazil, let the entire culture community extract from the federal, state and local governments a percentage of their budgets for the culture value chain that everyone credible can access for their cultural productions.

Perhaps, my little charge to the judges is to democratise the prize this year and other years ahead, if need be. The first few editions of the prize saw joint winners. We haven’t seen that in a long, long while. Perhaps, this is something to consider without preempting your work. The Nigeria Prize for Science has had numerous joint winners, including last year with three (3) joint winners. The prize money is big enough to share. After all, Oriogun gifted his co-finalists (USD$10,000 each) part of his win in 2022. Just perhaps, this would calm some frayed nerves down among those who advocate that the four (4) genres – poetry, prose, drama & children’s literature – can be awarded every year to really democratise the prize and enrich a sizeable number of writers every year. Imagine four (4) winners emerging every year and going home with, say USD$25,000 each! With today’s exchange, that’s some cool ₦37 million each for four writers. But since the prize organiser, NLNG, might not consider this, let the judges consider joint winning. USD$50,000 is still big enough to cause a naira tsunami in a writer’s life. The current Advisory Board Chair Prof. Akacho Adimora-Ezeigbo benefited from joint winning as well as late Pa Gabriel Okara and Prof. Ezenwa Ohaeto. It’s well over 15 years now since joint winning happened…

View Point is the Opinion Page of TheArtHubNg on matters pertaining only to the arts & culture sector, and represents only the views/opinion of the writer and NOT the media organisation. It’s open to the public