For five hours, guests were glued to their seats at Eko Hotel, Lagos as they awaited the declaration of the winners of the 2023 Nigerian Prizes for Literature, Science and Literary Criticism. The prizes are the biggest in Nigeria, and indeed the whole of Africa. The annual awards sponsored by Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) have become Nigeria’s version of the Sweden-based Nobel Prizes given annually to outstanding researchers, scientists and scholars in different fields of learning and endeavour in the world. Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986.
In 2004, NLNG inaugurated the Nigerian prizes awards with the $50,000 prize money for the winners. The prize money was later raised to $100,000 as the contests became popular and more widely subscribed.
This year’s awards took place on Friday, October 13 with a final list of three entries for literature: Grit by Obari Gomba, an associate professor of English studies at the University of Port Harcourt; The Ojuelegba Crossroads by Abideen Abolaji Ojomu, an engineer, actor and dancer; and Yamtarawala (The Warrior King) by Henry Akubuiro, an art journalist. The theme for this year’s awards was: Redefinition.
The winner of the prize for science was first declared. It was won by Prof. Hippolite Amadi, a professor of medical engineering and technology of Imo State University, Owerri, who is on a visiting fellowship at Imperial College, London. His winning entry was the invention of a lifesaving respiratory kit for infants.
Amadi, who thanked God for empowering him to make the invention and also win the award, said the kit has the capacity to reduce drastically, the number of infants dying every day. In addition to the award, he took home the prize money of $100,000, and displayed impressive dance steps after receiving the award.
The award for Literary Criticism went to Prof. Eyoh Asukwo Etim of Akwa Ibom State University for his work, ‘Herstory versus History: A motherist rememory in Akachi Ezeigbo’s The Last of the Strong Ones and Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.’
The grand finale came when the chairman of the Advisory Board for Literature, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, took the stage to declare the winner of the prize for literature. She said the contest for 2023 was in the genre of drama. Last year, it was poetry, while that of next year will be in children literature. Two years ago, it was in prose.
King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple
Reliving the story of this year’s contest, Ezeigbo said 143 entries were received after calls for entry closed in February. The number was pruned down to 50 and then to 25 before the long list of 11 was made; and thereafter, the shortlist of three.
In declaring GRIT by Obari Gomba, published in 2023 by Hornbill House of Arts, as the winner of this year’s prize, Prof. Ezeigbo said the work won because of the outstanding “profundity of its technique and subject matters; its thematic depth, social relevance and lyrical figurations.”
She said “GRIT is a dramatic journey into the destructive impact of soulless politics of power and profit, which brings out the beast in man.” She noted that all three shortlisted plays were, “well written, edited and produced” and that, “the publishers must be commended for adhering to key processes of producing outstanding and award-winning books.”
The Ojuelegba Crossroads by Abideen Abolaji Ojomu, published in 2022 by Yalam Press, “brings together the many challenges of postcolonial Nigeria in an ambitious craftsmanship like the popular Ojuelegba in Lagos Nigeria.” Ezeigbo said The Ojuelegba Crossroads sees Nigeria at a crossroads of greed, squandermania, oppression and repression of the underprivileged by the privileged few”.
The third play, Yamtarawala (the Warrior King) by Henry Akubuiro published by Adibiman Publishing in 2023, is a historical play that is built around the subject of political succession and ambition in a pre-colonial kingdom located in the northeast of Nigeria.
After collecting his award, Obari Gomba, who was reaching the final of the awards for the fifth time, thanked the jury for finding GRIT worthy of the prize. “It is a victory for Nigerian writers all over the world who, through creativity and resilience, have continued to find and redefine our country,” he said.
Gomba thanked God, his publishers, friends and family for the support that they gave to him while the journey lasted.
Managing Director of NLNG, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, said the company would in its tradition, order for a huge quantity of the kits that won Prof. Amadi the award for science to donate to its hospital support programme.
Mshelbila said the 2023 prize’s theme, ‘Redefinition,’ was in line with the need to re-evaluate and revisit growing concern, visions, and to push for change that will make the world a better place for businesses and human beings.
He praised the shortlisted awardees for their works and the Advisory Board and the judges for their contributions. He said Nigeria’s prospects in the energy transition journey, particularly, with natural gas, were bright, saying, “The Decade of Gas policy would enable the country to catch up with the industrialised countries of the world if successfully implemented as planned, while at the same time decarbonising our ecosystem.”
“Our bid for redefinition is further conceptualised through the sponsorship of the Nigeria Prizes: the Nigeria Prize for Science, Literature, and Literary Criticism. This year, the theme of the science prize is Innovation for Enhancement of Healthcare Therapy. We need our people to be in their best form – physically, mentally, and emotionally – to tap into the wealth attainable through Nigeria’s reasoned potential.
The special guest, His Highness Muhammad Sanusi II, said the theme, “Redefinition’, goes beyond science and literature. He said it was time for Nigeria to redefine its development and political leadership and the citizenry, to redefine their roles towards the development.
He said, “We often lament our image, but what have we done to change it? When will we celebrate scientists like Prof Amadi? NLNG is shedding light on such individuals, and I hope more Nigerians will do the same. This is the essence of redefinition. So the question is this: Is it not time for our public office holders to redefine their roles and start thinking of the human being at the end of their actions?
“Is it not time to start asking that when you are made a public officer, after four years or after eight years, can you honestly look at yourself and say that you have positively impacted the lives of millions of Nigerians?“
The Port Harcourt-based Rainbow Book Club had hosted the three finalists in the contest on September 17 in Port Harcourt.
