“Some critics have returned to the old, settled argument regarding the dichotomy between foreign-based Nigerian writers and at–home Nigerian writers. All I can say is that we shouldn’t seek to re-Villagise the Nigerian debate. Concerns have also been expressed about winners returning to contest. My answer is that those lamentations have not taken cognisance of the advantages of community building…“
By Godwin Okondo
THE yearly literary ritual of hosting the 11 longlisted writers vying for The Nigeria Prize for Literature took place inside the glittering hall of Lagos Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on Sunday, August 3, 2025. It was a gathering of the culture community to celebrate 11 writers who braved the odds to write books that have been talking points since they were published from 2021 till date. The joint celebratory event had the Secretary of Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), Mr. Toyin Akinosho, the General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development for NLNG, Dr. Sophia Horsfall and the Manager, Corporate Communication and Sustainable Development for NLNG, Mr. Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, making significant statements about Nigerian literature and the writers who were celebrated and had put in the works for their books to arrive at such a high pedestal.
According to Dr. Horsfall, “This Book Party is a testament to NLNG’s enduring belief in Nigeria’s creative future. While we produce energy to power homes, we also believe that stories power hope. In the past 25 years, the literature prize has ignited dreams, sharpened critical thinking, and inspired a new generation of Nigerian writers now stepping onto the global literary stage. The Nigeria Prize for Literature continues to give visibility, validation, and encouragement to stories that might otherwise go unheard, reminding the world that Nigeria has voices that matter. This year we received an impressive 252 entries in Prose for the Nigeria Prize for Literature. Today, the NLNG-CORA Book Party celebrates the 11 outstanding books on the long list, selected from these entries. Let us take a moment to applaud the 11 longlisted authors whose powerful voices have brought us together this afternoon.
“In the weeks ahead, our panel of judges will refine this list to a shortlist of three. On October 10, we will crown the winning work of the year. Please mark the date and stay connected with us through this exciting journey. To our vibrant literary community, let us continue to champion these remarkable works. Share them widely, recommend them on every platform, and let the global community see that Nigerian literature is shaping the future of storytelling. To young and upcoming writers here tonight, I urge you to see yourselves as the next contenders for this prize. You are among mentors and peers who believe in the power of your voice. Ask questions, soak up the inspiration, and commit to crafting stories that will one day claim a place on this stage.”
Mr. Akinosho came down hard on critics who would rather ‘villagise’ the prize over again, as stated in his address, ‘Let’s not re-Villagise the Nigerian debate by relaunching the dichotomy between foreign and home-based Nigerian writers’. He commended NLNG for its business expansionist trajectory and its interest in enabling Nigerian reading space by instituting The Nigeria Prize for Literature and sustaining it for over 20 years.
“We are here because a profitable Nigerian gas company decided that a way to spend some share of its profit is to enable the Nigerian reading space,” he said. The last time we got together was August 17, 2024 at the Shell Hall, which has found a way to take over from the National Theatre as the primary site for cultural engagement. I want to congratulate NLNG, which is currently expanding its factory by 35% for the opportunity that the global market for gas continues to provide them, so that they have the incentive to continue to sponsor the prize. The NLNG runs the largest midstream hydrocarbon plant in Sub-Saharan Africa, and it is a dutiful payer of taxes into the Nigerian treasury.”
On this year’s prize, Mr. Akinosho said it was perhaps the most fiercely competed, saying the best of Nigerian writers are among the 11 longlisted writers.
“This year’s competition is perhaps the most fiercely contested NPL in the Prize’s 22-year history. The best writers in Nigeria’s literary firmament are included among these 11 star writers we are honouring this evening,” he said. The list includes Chioma Okereke, who penned Water Baby; Chigoze Obioma, who laid out The Road to the Country; Yewande Omotoso, who examines An Unusual Grief; and Michael Afenfia, whose protagonist warns: Leave my Bones In Saskatoon.
“There is Linda M. Masi, who dreamt up Fine Dreams; Ayo Oyeku returns to the longlist for the second year in a row, this time with Petrichor: The Scent of a New Beginning; Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, who won this award nine years ago, comes back with When We Were Fireflies; Chika Unigwe, is another returnee. She won the NPL in 2012, and we all went to Nsukka to witness her acceptance. This time, her fare is titled The Middle Daughter. We also have on the longlist Oyin Olugbile’s Sanya. Nikki May points directly to This Motherless Lan, and Uwem Akpan has written of New York, My Village.”
Mr. Akinosho did a quick review of the 11 books and said, “These novels, written by authors who hail from all the corners of Nigeria, present fictional accounts that take us on different journeys to the Nigerian heartland. We witness a Nigerian family dispute in South Africa; the stories walk us through the anxieties of a school-minded teenager getting pregnant in Eastern Nigeria. We engage with the frustrations of a visa applicant whose request is dismissed on the basis that he is of a minority tribe.
“Just as you’d encounter deeper, nuanced interpretations of the lives of individuals caught in the middle of fatal raids on farming settlements, and the imagined telling of the spiritual basis for a south westerner deeply entrenched in fighting the Biafran war against Nigeria, you’d also be entertained by historical narratives of the grandeurs of old pre-colonial African empire. You’ll read about the adventures of a visual artist painting carcasses of the old railway facilities in the middle of the country. And there are narratives of a simpler, more innocent period in what have become our chaotic, overpopulated cities; there are also social enquiries about today’s youth angst against repressive authorities.”
Mr. Akinosho visited two sour points some critics have lashed on this year in their swipe against the prize organisers, which CORA Secretary engagingly respond to: the twin issues of foreign-based writers dominating the longlist and past winners returning again to the longlist.
According to him, “Some critics have returned to the old, settled argument regarding the dichotomy between foreign-based Nigerian writers and at–home Nigerian writers. All I can say is that we shouldn’t seek to re-Villagise the Nigerian debate. Concerns have also been expressed about winners returning to contest. My answer is that those lamentations have not taken cognisance of the advantages of community building.
“At the book party last year at Shell Hall, I pointed out that Ndidi Chiazor Enenmor, a short story writer who was on the 2019 longlist with A Hero’s Welcome had returned to the list with A Father’s Pride. Henry Akubuiro competed for the 2023 NPL right until the last day, with the drama text, Yamtarawala, the Warrior King. He showed up on the longlist in 2024 with Mighty Mite and Golden Jewel. Jude Idada, whose book, Boom Boom won the prize in 2019, had been in several rounds of this same competition before he won. So was the 2023 winner of the NPL, the poet and dramatist Obari Gomba. Before Gomba won the prize in 2023, with the political drama, Grit, his works were longlisted four times.
“Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike, who was on the 2023 longlist was also part of the longlist in 2011. In 2021, he won the Nigerian Prize for Literary Criticism, which is a newer prize in The Nigerian Prize for Literature system. The current chairperson of the prize advisory board, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, and a member of the board, Ahmed Yerima, both professors, have been winners of the award. Yerima competed for the prize more than once. He won at the first time he competed and then he tried again.”
Mr. Akinosho went down memory lane to give background context to the Book Party, why it was instituted as a means of energising the book trade, of which publishers are the biggest beneficiaries. Akinosho also spoke about this year’s Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF 2025) scheduled for November 13 – 19, 2025, and why it matters as part of the book ecosystem.
“I have gone on this bit of historical excursion to highlight the fact that the NPL has become an enabler in the Nigerian literary ecosystem,” Akinosho explained. “But at CORA, we see an opportunity for the creation of an entire economy around the book trade. The NPL cannot alone wipe out all the entrenched dysfunctions of the Nigerian publishing sector, but it goes far. And those who are comparing it with book prizes in countries with structured book industries are grossly unfair. The first Book Party, which took place in the scenic seaside premises of the Goethe Institut on Victoria Island in 2010, was organized after a review of the first five years of the Prize (2004 – 2009), in response to calls that the prize should do more than a glamourous gala night in which one author got rich, but the Nigerian book trade and literary scene as a whole didn’t seem elevated.
“CORA decided to help out. We asked the question: Why don’t we organise book readings, in which the top laureates come out to engage with audiences? For what is the worth of the riches when you don’t have an audience? Nothing beats a Book Reading, an event at which an author sits and discusses his work with readers in the room. The Book Party is one of the series of events in our calendar that precede our Annual Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF). The theme, this year, is ‘Change: Imagining Alternatives’.”
Manager Corporate Communication and Sustainable Development of NLNG, Palmer-Ikuku, while giving a vote of thanks to end the evening’s proceedings, said, ‘Writers, keep daring to dream, keep honing your craft, and keep telling our stories…’, adding, “What a fulfilling day this has been! We have shared stories, celebrated our brilliant authors, and witnessed the spark of ideas that will continue to shape our literary landscape. Today was not just about the books on the longlist of 11; it was about the community that nurtures creativity in literature. Each conversation, each question, each applause tonight reminds us that Nigerian literature is alive, vibrant, and destined for greater heights. One of the joys of the CORA-NPL Book Party is access. You will hear authors read. You can ask them why a character made that choice, how a poem found its form, and what sparked a line.
“People sometimes ask, you produce LNG, why invest in Literature? Our answer is simple: development is incomplete without the imagination to envision better futures. NLNG’s mission is to deliver energy to improve lives and inspire a sustainable future. That future requires informed citizens, curious minds, and courageous storytellers. The Nigeria Prize for Literature stands as one of the clearest symbols of this belief, continually pushing the boundaries of our collective creativity.”
Palmer-Ikuku commended CORA and the media for their partnerships and enjoined writers to keep extending the boundary of imagination: “My sincere thanks to CORA, the Advisory Board, our distinguished judges, the media, and especially the authors and critics who trust this process. To our writers, I leave you with this: keep daring to dream, keep honing your craft, and keep telling our stories in ways that resonate across the globe. To our readers, publishers, teachers, students, and all champions of literature, your support is what gives these stories wings. And to our media friends, continue to amplify the narratives in these works so they soar to every corner of the world.
As we look ahead to October 10, when the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025 will be announced, let us carry forward the energy and inspiration of this evening. Engage with these books, discuss them, share them, and let them open doors to new conversations.”
- https://thearthubng.com/lets-ensure-nigerian-stories-are-told-by-nigerian-voices-and-heard-around-the-world/
