Nigerian poet, legal professional and activist Ogaga Ifowodo has gained the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature for his poetry assortment, Why Does God Want a Gun? taking house the $100,000 award.
Mr Ifowodo was once introduced because the winner at Nigeria LNG Restricted’s Grand Award Evening in Lagos on Friday night time.
On the rite, filmmakers Peter Oghenetega Oke and Feranmi Abiola additionally emerged as joint winners of the inaugural Nigeria Prize for Inventive Arts for his or her documentaries, Past Tarkwa Bay and Mara Mania, respectively.
The filmmakers shared the class’s $20,000 prize.
Established in 2004 and backed via NLNG, the Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates once a year amongst prose fiction, poetry, drama and youngsters’s literature on a four-year cycle. The $100,000 award is one in all Africa’s most beneficial literary prizes and was once created to recognise exceptional works via Nigerian authors whilst encouraging creativity and the advance of the rustic’s literary tradition.
The 2026 version was once dedicated to poetry.
From 223 entries
Why Does God Want a Gun? revealed via Masobe Books, was once decided on from 223 poetry entries submitted for the 2026 version of the literature prize.
The contest was once lowered to an 11-title longlist in July sooner than Mr Ifowodo, James Ngwu Eze and Tares Oburumu emerged as the 3 finalists in August.
Mr Eze was once shortlisted for Unbind Me Now, whilst Mr Oburumu reached the general level with Floral’s Love Colony.
The Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, described Mr Ifowodo’s successful assortment as a delicate portrayal of non secular and political violence in Nigeria, narrated in the course of the voice of an imagined sufferer.
She stated the 3 shortlisted collections demonstrated technical ability, self assurance and a mature command of language whilst addressing problems that prolonged past Nigeria.
“Similarly compelling is the dialog that unfolds around the 3 books. Although distinct in voice and magnificence, they interact with similar considerations: questions of identification and belonging; the guarantees and disappointments of nationhood; the effects of extremism and displacement; and the iconic have an effect on of battle on people and communities,” she stated.
“Those are works deeply rooted within the Nigerian revel in, but they succeed in a ways past our borders.”
Mr Ifowodo’s poetry has constantly tested Nigeria’s political historical past, violence, displacement, reminiscence and the human penalties of oppressive programs.
He up to now reached the general level of the prize in 2017 with A Excellent Mourning, when Ikeogu Oke gained with The Heresiad.
Mr Ifowodo has additionally gained more than one poetry prizes awarded via the Affiliation of Nigerian Authors.
Inventive arts winners
The 2 successful documentaries emerged from 98 submissions gained for the inaugural Nigeria Prize for Inventive Arts.
The contest was once narrowed to 5 finalists whose documentaries explored the maiden version’s theme, “Identification.”
The organisers recognised Past Tarkwa Bay and Mara Mania for documenting communities, holding cultural reminiscence and drawing consideration to studies which can be incessantly lost sight of.
The Technical Adviser to the Advisory Board for the Nigeria Prize for Inventive Arts, Joel Kachi Benson, stated the shortlisted documentaries demonstrated the movie’s talent to problem perceptions and deepen public figuring out of society.
“Those documentaries transported us into communities incessantly unseen. They amplified voices too incessantly unheard. They have fun resilience, file tradition, maintain reminiscence, and disclose views that enrich our figuring out of who we’re,” Mr Benson stated.
The inventive arts prize was once presented to recognise originality, authenticity and excellence in creative expression. Its inaugural version interested by documentary filmmaking.
The literature and artistic arts effects adopted the September announcement of Mary-Brenda Akoda because the winner of the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Science and Innovation.
Ms Akoda gained with GenScan AI, often referred to as GenMRI/C-MORE, a synthetic intelligence-powered answer designed to boost up magnetic resonance imaging.
Her victory made her the primary lady to win the science prize as a person recipient. NLNG additionally described her because the prize’s first Era Z winner.
Talking on the rite, NLNG Managing Director and Leader Govt Officer Adeleye Falade stated the Nigeria Prizes had been established to recognise remarkable achievements and inspire paintings able to contributing to societal building.
Mr Falade stated the science and innovation prize had recognised contributions throughout well being, agriculture, engineering, power, generation, local weather resilience and sustainable building.
“It has celebrated the ingenuity, willpower and brilliance of scientists whose paintings extends a ways past laboratories and analysis papers to ship sensible answers that give a boost to lives,” he stated.
He added that Ms Akoda’s innovation had the possible to give a boost to lives in Nigeria and in other places.
Literature and creativeness
Mr Falade stated the literature prize had evolved into crucial platform in which Nigerian writers may just take part in world conversations about identification, resilience and humanity.
“Via this prize, Nigerian writers have demonstrated that our tales are excess of accounts of the place we come from. They give a contribution meaningfully to world conversations about identification, resilience and our shared humanity,” he stated.
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He described the inventive arts prize as any other street for recognising artists who maintain Nigeria’s heritage whilst reinterpreting it for more youthful generations.
“In combination, the Nigeria Prizes have turn into enduring nationwide establishments and robust reminders of what’s conceivable when excellence is recognised, rewarded and inspired,” he added.
Mr Falade congratulated the winners and finalists, describing their achievements as proof of the self-discipline and perseverance required to excel.
He stated the awards had been additionally meant to encourage rising scientists, writers and creatives to expand concepts able to addressing long run demanding situations and contributing to Nigeria’s building.
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, who additionally spoke on the rite, recognized creativeness as a not unusual thread connecting literature, the inventive arts and science.
Mr Soyinka argued that creativeness was once no longer limited to the arts, noting that disciplines reminiscent of arithmetic and physics additionally relied at the talent to check chances past current wisdom.
He known as for nearer collaboration between practitioners within the humanities and sciences, urging them to mix their strengths within the provider of humanity.
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