Nigeria's Literary Jackpot

Article Source: ThisDay

Sometime last year, there was a conversation on the sideline of Ake Book and Arts Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

It was a conversation between two men - participants of the festival - who turned out to be writers. The conversation was centered on the 2014 Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited. One of the men noted that he was going to enter for the competition and was sure of winning the top prize. Puzzled, the other man asked him where his confidence emanated from. The first man laughed before proudly stating: "I have studied the prize for decades. There is a winning formula. It is that formula I am going to use."

Recently, after an initial shortlist of eleven was released in July, the final shortlist of three writers was approved by the Advisory Board of the prize, for the 2014 edition.

The shortlisted writers included: John Abba, with the play 'Alekwu Night Dance', Jude Idada with 'Oduduwa: King of the Edos', and Sam Ukala with 'Iredi War'.

This year's prize was dedicated to drama. Every year, the prize is rotated among four literary genres - prose fiction, poetry, drama and children's literature. And yes, the winner goes home with a monetary award of $100,000 (about N17,000,000).

According to the NLNG website, the prize has lofty objectives which include "rewarding the authors of the best current writing . . . making known to readers, publishers, booksellers and distributors, literary critics and reviewers, the latest achievements of the best writers in Nigeria . . . (contributing) in a practical way to sustaining the tradition of excellence in Nigerian literature, discovering new authors and keeping older ones in focus."

Except in 2009, when no winner emerged, the prize has since 2004 continued to reward writers, in line with one of its major objectives. Poet and lawyer, Tade Ipadeola, who lives in Ibadan, clinched the 2013 edition for his collection of poetry 'Sahara Testaments'.

Just last week, Iredi War, a drama by Sam Ukala was adjudged winner of the prestigious prize by the panel of judges led by Prof. Charity Angya.

In arriving at Ukala's Iredi War, the Judges specifically commended "the masterly handling of vast historical material through the narrative and action method."

Prof. Angya said: "The language captures indigenous sensibilities, preserves the profundity of the original, and yet entertains."

However, despite the prize's validation of the financial worth of literary works, not everyone is happy with the manner in which the entire operation is being run. One of Nigeria's foremost literary and social critics, Ikhide Ikheloa believes the financial investment in the prize, contrasted with the state of literature in the country, is simply a waste of money.

He told THISDAY: "This year, the NLNG Prize continues its offensive tradition of being a perverse lottery for allegedly starving Nigeria writers. The sponsors are going to spend $I,000,000 to award $100,000 to an obscure 'playwright' who has published a 'play' that only his two relatives have read. Imagine what $1,000,000 well spent would do the arts in Nigeria. It is a shame, but then art mimics the society. Nonsense."

In a country without a defined, proper distribution for books, Ikhide couldn't understand why so much money would be expended on awarding prizes. "If you are in Nigeria, go to as many bookshops as your energy can muster and look for the books (shortlisted titles) and come back to tell me how many you can find. I know the answer, but I am trying hard to make a point, that we have to find a way to use the NLNG funds wisely. The NLNG folks are wasting money that could be better utilised to help our ailing publishing industry for instance.

"Do not get me wrong, I have said this ad nauseam, many of these writers deserve to be honoured and rewarded for a lifetime of work in the service of our literature, but that is not what the NLNG Prize is currently doing. It is honouring books that are remarkable mostly by their absence from the market. That is absurd. There has to be a structural way to ensure that our writers are not hurriedly stapling things together just to meet the deadline of a jackpot er literary prize."

Ikhide is not alone in criticizing the Prize's structure. Most of the literary enthusiasts interviewed for this piece shared similar views. Writer and blogger, Pearl Osibu told THISDAY: "NLNG? After the long-list, I lose interest. The short-list is very political and looks set up to be non-competitive. You have a very robust long list, then all of a sudden, you have a short-list with two clear losers, and you know the winner has already been decided.

"And no, don't ask me about this year's. I have lost interest and only know Jude Idada is on the list because he is a dear friend. And of course, I am rooting for him and hope he is not one of the weaker links. I don't know the two he's up against and how many people read plays anyway? Oh, that's one of the reasons the NLNG Prize is distasteful: giving all that money to a writing form that really makes less than a ripple. But it's none of my business."

Co-founder of Saraba Magazine, one of Nigeria's leading digital literary magazines, Dami Ajayi also believes the Prize has to be re-designed to be able to meet its objectives. He noted: "The idea of literary prizes is to reward good writing and prescribe books for reading. It is a noble initiative but it is a winner-take-all prize, and that is more like lottery. There is need for a more rounded panel of judges, not just academics, old professors who are the gatekeepers of conservatism. We need actors, journalists, culture critics, film makers. A more robust conservation around the long-listed and shortlisted books is important and currently lacking."

The chairman of the panel of judges for the prize is Charity Angya, Professor of Theatre Arts and Vice Chancellor at Benue State University. Other members of the panel are Professor Ahmed Yerima, a past winner of the Prize and Professor of Theatre Arts, Redeemer's University, and Professor Akanji Nasiru, a well- respected scholar and professor of Performing Arts at Bowen University. Also, the Chairman of the Prize's Advisory Board is Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo. Others include: former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Jerry Agada, and former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Professor Ben Elugbe.

One of Nigeria's top publishing consultants and publisher, Gbenro Adegbola, also told THISDAY he is "not following the prize at all. I saw the headline the other day but didn't read it. I am not particularly hot about prizes either. What they should be doing is instituting grants to support writers."

Meanwhile, in a phone chat with THISDAY, the 2013 winner of the NLNG Prize and nationally revered poet, Tade Ipadeola, has defended organisers of the prize, noting that the problem of distribution is a national one. He said: "whose fault is it that the distribution network for books in Nigeria is bad? Is it the fault of the prize's organisers, the NLNG? Or is it the fault of all of us, including newspapers who never actually review books. I used to do periodic reviews in newspapers, but they don't pay. And also, what about the bookstores? Let us put the blame where it squarely belongs. It is not the fault of the organizers that book distribution in Nigeria is poor. What is the Ministry of Culture doing? What is the Ministry of Education doing?

"I am not saying this because I am a past winner of the prize. And by the way, I don't know about other books, but I have seen Jude Idada's book in the bookstore, and I know it is available electronically as well. The good thing is that the digital distributors - Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo - are reducing some of these problems. But the problem is really more about the Nigerian state, and not about the NLNG."

However, he agreed that the prize should not be rotated among four genres but pointed out that it would take additional financial responsibility from the organisers for that to happen. He remarked: "There are cost implications for the prize organizers, because in any given year there are about 200 entries. This year, because it is drama, the entries were about 150. But last year's was over 200. And the judges, in order to be conscientious have to do a thorough job. So imagine a situation where the judges have to read 800 books? The load will be too much. So, one of the ways that can be done is to actually increase the number of judges. But again, the logistics involved are much."

Although he praised NLNG for its contributions to the literary scene, he observed that more could still be done. "I think that the prize is actually doing very well now. I am more concerned about the availability of the books after it has been declared the best for the year. I think that more can be done by making books on the shortlist widely available. In other countries, it is not only the book that wins that gets all the attention. Once your book is on the shortlist, it should have better circulation and presence in the market. Then of course, the universities are not doing what they should do. In the last 10 years, only one university - the University of Ibadan - has actually held a colloquium on a prize-winning book. And we have about 50 universities in the country. So, it is clear that the problem is systemic. And I think NLNG has carried more weight than it is supposed to. But I believe more can be done."

Now, it is really up to NLNG to think through it, whether to consider the circulation of the books on its shortlist in addition to suggestions for a review of the prize for more meaning impact.