BY DAMIETE BRAIDE
In 2004 and 2009, there was no winner in the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG), Prize for Literature. In 2015, no winner emerged again as none of the entries met the required guidelines for the competition. The Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo-led Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature last week Friday disclosed in Lagos that there was no winner for the 2015 edition of the prize, because none of the 109 entries received met the levels of literary excellence worthy of Africa’s most prestigious literary prize. 89 of the entries did not meet the preliminary requirements (81.6%) of the total number of entries.
‘Children’s literature entails cultural norms, mileau, values of any given society; it moulds, teaches, corrects, entertains, and crucially inspires the next generation of readers and writers. Most of the entries for this year was discovered to have inappropriate prominence was given to the following: violence, eroticism, mediocrity, cheating in examinations, bully, exploration in mysticism and negative peer pressure. Distinctions need to be made between children’s literature and literature about children. Children’s literature should be creative works, aesthetic and social values for children.
‘It is worrying that there is paucity of children’s literature, creative writers are, therefore, urged to take particular attention to children’s literature because this is the fundamental stage and growth and consequently national development. The criteria used to judge this year’s entries, he informed, included language diction, theme of context, social relevance, style, quality of production and originality. He also said that language plays a major role in literary production, therefore, creative writers were normally expected to pay attention to the use of language while writing for the genre.
He added: ‘The Nigeria Prize for Literature demands stylistic excellence, interested, original and qualitative works, narrative inference, technically accurate writings. And for children, the entry this year falls short of expectations, as each book was found to manifest incompetence, and the use of language. Generally, published works are expected to be attractive, attention catching and of good quality. The entries accessed this year did not reflect the above qualities and acceptability. Many of them showed no evidence of good editing, therefore, none of the entries is found suitable for the 2015 Nigeria Prize for Literature Awards.’
The decision was reached by the panel of judges for this year’s competition led by Chief Judge Professor Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok, a professor of English Language at the University of Jos, after a thorough review of the entries. According to Prof. Iwoketok, ‘A disturbingly large number of entries were dropped at the initial stage of short-listing because of grave editing and publishing errors. Child abuse is a very inclusive crime, and it might affect in diverse ways. One of the ways is neglecting children’s literature. It is not a Nigerian phenomenon, very interesting indeed. If you take a survey of children’s literature all over the world, what you are likely to find, in the majority, is literature about and for adults. Except that in Nigeria, the percentage is very low.
‘I am not the only crusader trying to champion children’s literature in Nigeria, but that NLNG is doing in so many ways and congratulations for this important aspect of our collective experiences. My joy is that there is hope, not just for the Nigerian child but for literature in general. Both the government of our country and writers in general, educationists should think very critically about issues addressing the context of literature for children.’
In the same vein, Professor of Children’s literature at Newcastle University, Britain, Kim Reynolds, noted that writing for children marked the beginning of creating for the next generation of writers, readers and leaders. She said: ‘Literature transcends place and time, and we can enjoy each other’s literature where ever we are. It is disappointing that we were not able to find a winner for this year.
‘The entries deal with some important topical issues, raising challenging questions about the world children growing up in Nigeria today will inherit. It also placed a spotlight on family dynamics and constructions of childhood in ways that encourage readers to think about how children feature in Nigerian culture. However, they lack the lyricism, vision, and authority to become classics that will be handed down from generation to generation and that have the potential to reach out across cultures,’ said Reynolds, an international consultant for this year’s prize.
According to Dr. Kudo Eresia- Eke, General Manager, External Relations, Nigeria LNG. ‘It will be recalled that the prize was instituted in 2004 to stimulate creativity and reward excellence in writing and would therefore be awarded only for excellence. Although there is no winner this year, NLNG, in its determination to promote excellence, will invest the prize money, which would have been won back into the process for a creative writing workshop for Nigerian writers of children’s literature.
’For the benefit of those who may not be physically at the workshop, and, indeed for the good of up-and-coming writers, the proceedings would be collated, published for reference and guidance.’
‘The verdict has been pronounced and the basis for the decision made very clear. This is reminiscent of 2004 (Prose) and2009 (Poetry) when there were no winners for Africa’s most prestigious literary prize, The Nigeria Prize for Literature. ‘Some may be inclined see this as a challenge but at Nigeria LNG we see an opportunity. For us, it is time to go back to the drawing board to identify the root causes of the problems and seek for ways to intervene. In this circumstance, the question that earnestly begs for an urgent answer now is: what next? I speak for NLNG, when I say that there will be no wavering and no retreat regarding our commitment to continuous investment in the development of literature and the literary arts in Nigeria.
‘I wish to add that Nigeria LNG stands firmly behind the decision of the judges, the advisory board and the international consultant. This prize which we bequeath to Nigeria will be awarded for no other reason than excellence. Working with our partners and stakeholders, we plan to invest in the convening of a children’s literature capacity building workshop. The clear objective here is to work constructively to address what we see as an identified gap. One of the targets of that workshop will be to improve the abilities of the writers in this genre of children’s literature.
‘For for the benefit of those who may not be physically at the workshop, and indeed for the good of upcoming writers, the proceedings of the workshop will be collated, published for reference and guidance. I wish to remind us all that our action is predicated only on our desire to stick to one of our company’s core values of excellence. We will therefore continue to push that only deserving writers and their impeccable works are brought to prominence as we remain committed to the prize.’ The Nigeria Prize for Literature has, since 2004, rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara (co-winner, 2005, poetry), Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto (co-winner, 2005, poetry); Ahmed Yerima (2006, drama) for his classic, Hard Ground; Mabel Segun (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre; Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) with her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary (2008, prose); Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who clinched the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adeleke Adeyemi (2011, children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012, prose), with her novel, On Black Sister’s Street; Tade Ipadeola (2013, Poetry) with his collection of poems, Sahara Testaments and Sam Ukala (2014, drama) with . In 2004 and 2009, there were no winners.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly among four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. Nigeria LNG Limited remains committed to responsible corporate citizenship and The Nigeria Prize for Literature is one of its numerous contributions towards helping to build a better Nigeria.
Other members of the panel of judges were Professor Charles Bodunde of the University of Ilorin, and the University of Maiduguri’s Dr. Razinat Mohammed. Members of the Advisory Board for the prize were Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo, Professor Ben Elugbe and Professor Jerry Agada.