SHOULD NLNG’S NIGERIA PRIZE FOR LITERATURE BE A SINGLE WIN OR A MULTIPLE WIN?

(A Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation’s HIASFEST Monthly Literary Panel Discussion on topical literary issues in Nigeria)

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel: 

Good afternoon. It is humbling to have you on this HIASFEST Monthly Panel Discussion 2024. I am excited that we are all here already. My co-curator, Ibraheem Uthman, is also with me. I can see Dr. Ola Ifatimehin of Bayero University, Kano. Good afternoon, sir. I can see Ismail Bala Garba of Bayero University, Kano. I can see Dr. Joan Oji, our Mummy. I can see our father, Sir BM Dzukogi. I can also see Mr. Makama Shekwo’aga. I can see Dr. Aisha Abdulkarim. I can see an Erudite Legal Luminary – Barr. Ahmed Maiwada. I can see also Ojo Blessing Omeiza. 

 I am glad that we are here for this important panel discussion this afternoon. It is a delight that you have all come to grace this wonderful discussion on the NLNG’s Nigeria Prize for Literature. The theme is: should it be a single win or a multiple win? In the next one hour, we will be here to discuss and analyze this important prize and then its value and why it should be a single win or why it should be a multiple win. Therefore, permit me to introduce our panellists properly. 

I have with me the first person Dr. Ola Ifatimehin who is a literary judge and also from the Department of Theatre at Bayero University, Kano. I have Dr. Dame Joan Oji who is the National Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). We are supposed to have Mr. Henry Akubuiro, who is the Art Editor of Daily Sun and also a finalist for the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2023. We are expecting Malam Kalid Imam to also join us as the Secretary of the Northern Nigeria Writers’ Summit. We are expecting Dr. Sadiq Dzukogi to join us, who is an NLNG finalist for 2022. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Mississippi, USA. Also, we are expecting Mr. Maxim Ozoatu, who is a notable poet in Nigeria. Barr. Ahmed Maiwada is an NLNG finalist in 2009 for his book Fossils, he is here with us. He is a poet and publisher. Dr. Aisha AbdulKareem, who is the author of Yar’Fari, and also a Lecturer at Federal University, Birnin Kebbi. We are most delighted to have you grace this wonderful panel discussion this evening, and we hope that we will have a fruitful discussion as we start.

Meanwhile, I want to know if Ibraheem Uthman, my co-curator has anything to say before we begin to fly. Ibraheem, are you there? 

Ibraheem Uthman:

Yes, thank you. I want to say a warm welcome to the HIASFEST Literary Panel Discussants. We are thrilled to have each of you join us for this “will-be” engaging discussion on the theme: “Should NLNG’s Nigeria Prize for Literature be a Single Win or a Multiple Win?” Your expertise and insights are invaluable, and we are eager to embark on this literary journey together. Let’s make this discussion a vibrant exchange of ideas. Thank you for joining us today, on the maiden edition.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel: 

Okay, thank you, Ibraheem. We can begin to fly then. The Nigeria Prize for Literature is a Nigerian Literary Award given annually since 2004 to honour literary erudition by Nigerian authors. It is on record that the award rotates among four genres; fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature, annually. From the year 2004 when the prize started, the prize has soared in cash prizes. The current value for the prize is $100,000, which is given to an individual winner. It is the biggest literary award in Africa and one of the richest in the world. Today, there is one issue regarding this award, why there should be multiple winners or a single winner. From my research, I saw that in 2005, the prize money was between Gabriel Okara and the late Ezenwa Ohaeto. And then in 2007, that’s two years later, we had Mabel Segun and Professor Akachi Ezeigbo for children’s literature also sharing the prize. In 2015, the prize was not awarded but from 2016 down to 2023 the winners have been single winners. For 2016 we had Abubakar Adam Ibrahim for his book, Season of Crimson Blossom. We had Ike Okogwu winning it with his poetry book. Soji Cole won in 2018, we have Jude Idada won in 2019, we have Professor Cheluchi also for her book, Son of the House in 2021, and then in 2022, we had Nomad by Romeo Oriogun. In 2023, Obari Gomba won for his play, Grit. 

In between these years, we have seen different people coming out to say, no, this prize should not be given to a single individual. For instance, I read in 2016, somebody said that it should be about finding new audiences for writers and creating a literary brand with a solid cultural heritage and not just awarding prize money. I also read in 2013, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, the journalist, in a Facebook post also insisted that the prize money should be split into three for the shortlisted writers. Mr. Maxim Uzoatu said that the long-listed writers and short-listed writers should be given at least $5, 000 for the short-listed and the long-listed writers taking $1, 000 because for him the Booker prize which is about 50,000 Euros also gives about 2,500 Euros to short-listed writers. 

So if we look at all these, back and forth, it brings us to the issue of NLNG prize, which is indigenous to Nigerian writers, it is the highest prize that celebrates our literary erudition in Nigeria, should it be a single win or a multiple win? So I don’t know, let me check if Mr. Uzoatu is here, I will want to begin with him this evening. You have argued in an essay you published on the 19th of August 2023. So I’m wondering, now that we are here, we want to hear your argument once again, to see on this panel, if we would agree with your position. So Mr Uzoatu, if you are here, you can go ahead and take the floor, sir.

Mr. Uzoatu, can you hear us? I can see that you are online. Can you hear me, sir? Okay, if Mr. Uzoatu is not here, I’ll move to Barr. Ahmed Maiwada. So your work, Fossils was shortlisted as a finalist in 2009. I was wondering, as someone who has attained that winning position, and then lost the prize, how do you feel losing it and this issue of winner takes all? And as a publisher, what would that have done to you if you won that year, sir?

Barr. Ahmed Maiwada:

Hello? I believe you can all hear me. Okay, on that particular night in October 2009, when the NLNG prize was declared, may I say inconclusive, I actually drove myself back to my house. I didn’t have any accidents on the road, which was late in the night. And I had a very, very good sleep. So concerning how I felt when I didn’t win the prize on that very particular night, to be honest with you, any writer who is in it for the love of it, not just for money, I don’t see how such a writer should be flustered in any way whatsoever. Writing is a marathon race, I should say that. It’s a lifetime thing. If you are doing it for money, then I don’t see any reason why you should engage in writing at all. I am not writing for money. It might interest you to know that I wrote Fossils as a reaction to somebody in a group, called Creativity that involves Nigerian writers in Nigeria and diaspora told me that I was, I mean, he couldn’t even edit my first collection of poems because it was poorly written. And I was jealous of Yellow Yellow, the writer of Yellow Yellow who won the prize. I think that particular year, I think it should be 2007 and 2008, a prose work. And I said, wait a minute, you think if I wanted to win this prize, I wouldn’t have won it? Okay, watch me and see. And I went ahead and I wrote fossils and I entered it and graciously, I mean to the grace and the glory of God, I made the final. In fact, the truth is that I was the only one of all the nine shortlisted or longlisted that was formally invited to the award ceremony. For the first time that prize was brought to Abuja and I think it was the only time that it was brought to Abuja. Before it was brought to Abuja, I received a call from NLNG to ask me whether I would attend that event and I said, well, since you are bringing it to Abuja and I am in Abuja, I certainly would attend. But eventually what happened did happen. And I woke up from that particular experience and I came out with my first novel. I dusted myself off from that experience and I moved on. And to be honest with you, winning that prize wouldn’t have changed my life one way or the other, because I call myself a writer. I’m in it for the love of it, not for money.

So for me, it doesn’t matter whether I win or I don’t win. I’m writing for the reader. And I was also glad that the subsequent novel that I wrote in the following year, 2010, actually was well received. So I consider myself a writer, not an award-winning one. If I hear somebody say “I am an award-winning writer,” I look at him with suspicion. He is not into the writing for anything except for the money. And then he’s not worthy of the calling of the name writer. So I think I hope I have answered your questions.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Okay, Dr. Joan, I want to take a cue from what he said talking about award-winning writers and he feels that it is not too okay for somebody to take that appellation. So, would you agree with his stance on that?

Dr. Joan Oji:

Hello everyone.

Thank you, Ahmed. The truth is that Nigerians, we love titles and we like to dress ourselves in what Shakespeare will call borrowed robes. I encounter people who call themselves award-winning writers and I am like, what awards? As recently at the Mbari Series, we held last weekend here in Abuja. We discussed quality, and I had the pleasure of anchoring or if you like moderating the discussion and the lead discussant, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura; that is why Nigerians write with prizes in mind as the targets. Because I tend to see that the NLNG prize and other prizes, by the way, seem to be the motivating factor for many creative writers. And he took time to acknowledge that that was a good beginning because people shouldn’t write with prizes in mind. Sadly, that happens to be the case because as we are talking now, I am sure the same people who submitted titles for prose, submitted for drama, submitted for poetry, are about or maybe have submitted titles for children’s literature. Frankly speaking, I agree with Ahmed that writers should not write for awards. I don’t do it. I got shortlisted for ANA in 2011 when I published my debut novel. I think Adam Ibrahim read it. Ogechi Ugochukwu read it. Who else? And the late Obunse told me to submit it. The address he gave me was National Theatre, Iganmu,  Lagos.

So should NLNG be a multiple win or if you like graded, I support that it should be graded. Like having a prize award for the top three. I have never liked winner-takes-all, I have never liked it as anything. Even in football, even in other sports, even in things like and, even in beauty pageants, we hear of the winner and the first runner-up and the second runner-up. So let NLNG, if they are listening, hear me. It should be that the top prize may be 100,000 US dollars. The first runner-up up 20,000 why not? And the second runner-up 10,000 US dollars for having gone that far. Because I have watched comments and watched panellists’ reports. To keep streamlining and screening and whittling down the list from 300 entries down to a shortlist of three, only for one person to carry the prize. “E get as e be” in my thinking. That’s my view. Ojo, over to you.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Okay, thank you, Ma. I get your point on that. Mr Maxim, in his essay,  said one important thing. Yeah, that literary judgment is fraught with idiosyncrasies. In other words, he is trying to say that the winners are, or the eventual winner is based on the personal sentiment, if I may put in a quote, of those on the judging panel. So if writers do not write on the same theme if they are writing on different themes, and then they enter for a prize, for a single prize, do you think it is fair, Dr Ola? Do you think it is fair that one person gets the whole prize? Considering that they did not write on the same theme and then because of their peculiarities they will not write the same perception in their writings so if writers have different perceptions and then they write on different themes, do you think it is fair that one person takes it all?

Dr. Ola Ifatimehin:

Thank you so much for that question, Ojo. We would be looking at the ideology behind the prize, right? Looking at the objective, why is the prize in place? You will see that NLNG has specified that the goal is to improve, not encourage, to improve the quality of writing, editing, and publishing of literature. So if it is about improvement and not encouraging a multitude of people to come out to write, I do not have a problem with the winner-takes-all. Our barrister started by saying he does not even understand in the first place why people will write with a prize in mind, why people will write and they are writing because there is an award to be won. That, people who actually love the art should basically just write. So if that is the philosophy, behind your writing, why bother about any prize being graded? You know, the point is you want to improve on writing and of course editing. Dr Joan has also mentioned that when she realized that people pay attention to what they read or what they write, she has now dedicated herself to actually giving time to editing people’s works. So if this is the basic nuance around writing, I see no reason why we should worry ourselves with the prize winner takes all the cash prize. About sharing the prize, whoever wins, of course, that is not an official arrangement, but if writers could do that, I think that people should, if they feel entitled or they feel that people have come this far, therefore they should benefit in one way or the other,  should share. I think that they can make such arrangements. But officially, I support the winner-takes-all. I support the winner-takes-all, and I think that the goal is not to encourage people to come out and write because there is a prize to be won, but to improve the quality of our literature. And if that is the case, the winner takes all gives the juicy goal for each person who is writing, who is publishing to set forth for the goal. Because if you falter and your work is not as good as the other, but it is just a little less, you will still get something. It does not improve on quality. That should be the goal, right? So that essential goal of getting to the ideal, one work, one work should get the entire prize. That is my view about the arrangement.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Okay, thank you, Dr. Ola. Well, you talked about the purpose of the prize being to bring about improvement in quality. And I also want to agree with that. I remember that in 2004, as I checked, 2004, 2009 and 2015, the prizes were not awarded or the prize was not awarded to the writers. And it was because the jury felt that the entries fell short of expectation as each book was found to manifest incompetence, not to manifest incompetence in the use of language. And there was little or no evidence of good editing. So like you said, on improvement, I want to agree on that. Let me return to Bar. Ahmed Maiwada as a publisher, talking about the prize money. Assuming your book won that year, I believe it would have helped.  If books win prizes or they get something, don’t you think it will also encourage the writers seeing most of these books were self-published especially since we don’t have a vibrant publishing sector in Nigeria, most of the ones we used to have back then are now in moribund condition and most of the ones we have in this are usually self -published or just printers. So, if a writer can win or gets compensation, don’t you think it will encourage him rather than just coming with nothing as a finalist?

Bar. Ahmed Maiwada:

Okay, this was addressed directly to me and let me just quickly point out that the 2009 prize was not awarded not because of the shortcomings of the works. It wasn’t as a result of bad editing and so on. No, not at all. Go back and read the judges’ report. You will find out that, they classified the works into two. A part has a lot of social content in it, for the various titles within that part. But the other one has a lot of art, but no social content. So it is not about poor writing or anything like that. The literariness of the works is not at fault in any way. They could not fault anything, anything in the works except that, okay, arbitrarily they decided that, oh, okay, we feel that there is no social content or social relevance in these that have measured up in the artistic standards. So I don’t want to go into that. They decided they were not going to award it. It’s okay. It has passed. The records are there for everybody to go and check and see why it was not awarded. Now the point of the prize money assisting the writer and so on. I also toe the line which Dr Ola has taken, I do not accept the prize money, particularly the NLNG prize, should be shared among the three shortlists. I don’t believe so, because you see writing if you are a writer, you can come up with a piece of work, whatever it is, poetry, prose, you can start from the beginning to the end and you have completed that work, you are already a winner. Now you got it published by whatever means, whether it is self-publishing or you got a commercial publisher to have faith in that work and put in some money to bring it out for the public to read. It’s a win. 

Ultimately, if you are a writer who decides that you are going to go all the way from the beginning of your life to the end, that particular piece of work is going to count ultimately in your profile as a writer. So it’s a win. Secondly, your books, if they are properly published, they are out there in the supermarkets, in the bookshops, and so forth, they might bring you some Naira and Kobo, that you might even make use of to do one or two things in your life. And that is also a win. Maybe people do forget that the moment your work is on the short-list of any prize that is well published, especially the NLNG,  it is publicity for that work. That work automatically attracts publicity for the writer himself. That is a win.

You may be surprised that even the person who comes third may even sell out there in the market much more copies than the person who won the prize. So what are we so afraid of? One person should take it. If it is about luck, let the luck strike on one person, fine and good. Let him take it. Go back to your drawing board and continue to write. Maybe next time it will be yours.

Suppose you keep writing and you are not winning, you think you are not improving yourself? But anybody who gets discouraged at any stage of this competition that comes and goes gets discouraged and decides, oh, look, I have decided I’m not going to win. He will never, never improve himself. Some of the things that we have, like maybe a novel today, or a collection of short stories or a collection of poems might have been an attempt to win a prize somewhere. You may have written a short story for Commonwealth. Maybe you didn’t win, they didn’t even mention you, or maybe for the Caine prize. Then eventually you decide, okay, look, you see this short story, I’m going to develop it into a novel. You will be surprised, that novel, that short story that you have developed into a novel, might even win you an NLNG. So please let us forget about the issue of this quick fix. I want to win it immediately. Look, this is the work I must do. Friday Abba, he told us that the work that got on the short-list of NLNG, his drama work he wrote it in just a few weeks. He just had a brain wave or whatever, he sat down quickly, and it was ready. But it may not be the same with other people. Please let us forget about it, we have to win this, we have to win that. Let us look at the general good for all. There was this NLNG prize for children’s literature, and one year like that, my sister, Chinyere Obi-obasi was on the shortlist. I am sorry to say, in her opinion, she believes she has won. I was driving with her from, I think, Ibadan. We went to the ANA exco meeting. She was saying that she was going to write the NLNG and inform them concerning the prize that she eventually did not win because she had maybe an inkling that she would win. I asked her, and I said, please if you write this one and somebody else maybe to NLNG, it may stop this prize. Are we interested in having it stopped just because we are not winning? No, we are winners. All of us are winners. Whenever we sit down and say we are going to write for NLNG, we decide to up our game to come up with that best work that we have not done before. Every time you attempt, a better attempt than the one you did before, you are improving yourself. That is a win. Money has nothing to do with that kind of thing. Money cannot do it. Okay, what about those who have won? Kaine Agary who won at the early stage, where is she today?

Is she still writing? How many others have won the children’s writing and taken his $100,000 and we never heard from him again? Let us be interested in the writers that are truly writing, and forget about this lottery writers that are only interested in the money in it. Possibly they go to whatever, whatever means to win. Let us concentrate on the fact that we are being made better every time we compete. It’s about competition, it’s not about winning. And overall, we are bettering the Nigerian literature, the general Nigerian literary scene. As a publisher, on a final note, I can tell you the work that does not win NLNG doesn’t mean it will not win the hearts of readers. I am a publisher. I receive a lot of cheques. You’ll be surprised,  just this week, two or three days ago, I wrote a cheque. I wrote three cheques for close to half a million Naira for writers whose works I sold and I received payments. What are we talking about? Please, we should forget about the prizes. If we win, fine. If we don’t win, let us concentrate on the general readership and then we enjoy our life as writers. There are so many other opportunities that your writing can bring you than winning prizes. Thank you very much. 

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Okay, thank you, sir. Ibraheem, I guess you wanted to say something.

Ibraheem Uthman: 

Yeah, thank you, Mr Ojo. My question is directed to Bar. Ahmed Maiwada. In your experiences, sir, how has being a finalist for a literary prize such as the NLNG influenced your creative process and the reception of your work?

Barr. Ahmed Maiwada:

Being a finalist, I can say got me the publicity I needed at that time. Many people who are interested, Nigerians interested, in the Nigerian literary scene, did not know about me my writing. But I can guarantee you that in the 2009 NLNG shortlist of that particular year of competition, NLNG did a lot to make writers superstars. Believe me, we in that short-list, the publicity we received was beyond our imagination. No, eventually we didn’t get our books to be maybe printed and branded as NLNG finalists or whatever, we didn’t get that opportunity. By then they had not started doing such a thing, but it gave me the kind of publicity that if I had gone ahead to cash in on it, I might have made a lot of sales as a writer. But let me give you also the experience of other people. Patrick Ogujeogor is a writer, he made the shortlist before, you know, and he’s one of the writers who keep receiving cheques and money from his works. This doesn’t come from NLNG, it comes from readers who have encountered his name somewhere and they saw his books on the shelves here and there and then they decided, oh, I heard about this writer. Let me just quickly pick and read. I have been on the NLNG shortlist as a publisher, and I’ve been on the shortlist as a writer. I’ve been on the shortlist as an editor because I edited some of those works that made the NLNG. So forget about the fact that my name is mentioned there, but I know I have this experience. I haven’t been an NLNG judge. I don’t know what it takes or what it means to be there, and I’m not even interested. So to be on the short-list, there is a benefit. That is the truth. These days, one of the benefits is they get to print about maybe 10,000, is it 5,000 copies of your works? All expenses paid. Do you know how many writers, even in the Western world, who are developed, and how many eventually get to sell 5,000 copies of their works? There are not many. So this immediately and automatically puts you in that position as a writer. If you were not a writer before, being on the NLNG shortlist puts you on the stage, there on the spot. And it is for you now to pick yourself up from there. Stop crying that, oh, I didn’t win the that or that. It’s not a shame that you have made it that far, but you didn’t win. It’s not. and nothing to be ashamed of. It’s like they said you are being taught to fish. They took you there in front of that pond full of fish and then they gave you the fishing stick and then they are pointing at the fish for you to go get and then you are sitting down crying. Just go ahead and have fun. Write more and more, forget about even winning the prize. Focus on the market that has been created for you by NLNG, and then you see how your life will change as a writer. I can guarantee you, that one can live from the sales of his books. And I have the statistics to show for it. Thank you.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Okay, thank you, sir. We got your point. Dr Aisha, I saw your hand raised. So, I was wondering if you have something to say or a reaction to some of the points raised.

Dr Aisha AbdulKareem

My name is Aisha Umar, officially. Aisha Abdulkarim as a writer. I am a writer and that’s all there is to it. I don’t put in for competitions because it affects my mental health as a writer. It takes something away from me as a writer. So I just write. I’ve published only one book by Kraftbooks. My Yar’Fari was published by Kraftbooks, I did not spend one naira. He saw the manuscript, and they went through and published it. From 2020, when Yar’Fari was published to date, I am still reaping the rewards. I get calls from the US, from the UK. I’ve seen your book, I’ve heard about it, I want copies. One copy of my book sells for $10, 10 pounds, $15 and I am selling, I am making my money. Let us know that just like Barr. Maiwada said it is about writing. Let me tell you, the best feeling for me as a writer is when I get published. APNETi featured a poem of mine I wrote when I lost a friend, White Grief. From APNETi’s platform, someone copied that poem and sent it to Professor Emenyonu, the Editor-in-chief of Africa Literature Today in the US, University of Michigan. Emenyonu called me that evening and said, Aisha, I read your poem. That poem is the best you have written. That is the best of your poems I’ve read and is going straight into the next edition of African Literature. That recommendation was the best news I’ve gotten in 2023. The feeling is real when your work becomes a reality and that is the best for a writer, not money.

You can make money if you put your passion into what you do and come up with something good. Let’s now go back to NLNG. You and I do not have a say over how Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas classifies its prize. It’s not government money, it’s their money. They have decided this is what they want. One glorious winner takes all. So be it. The only thing I think we should chip in that if at all we have a right to bring anything to their table is if, for example, the runner-ups could get maybe a publishing deal, could get NLNG to purchase a large number of their works, at least that becomes an encouragement. But the idea of saying split the money, let the winner take the money. We have people of integrity who are members of the NLNG judging committee over the years. They do their work and they come out with it. The 2019 NLNG prize for literature in Abuja, I was there because Jude Idada is my very close friend. So, we were there, believe me, I didn’t envy him in that feeling until that award was announced. I didn’t envy him in any way, not at all. I can’t subject myself to that. I don’t put in for competitions. I don’t. I just write. When the muse comes, the inspiration gets to work. I bring out the work. When I see the work, what I have written out of inspiration, that feeling is the best for me as a writer and I’m okay with it. I’m fine. The NLNG prize for literature is determined by the owners, and the policies of their company, they established the prize that the winner takes all, let the winner takes all. 

Unfortunately, you see this our indomie generation of writers, they want to win money. They want the music. There are people who are richer than NLNG or other people who can compete with NLNG. Let more prizes come on and let’s give the people who want to submit for competition the best texts that wins the competition may not be the best work out there. It only emerges as the best from the consent of the judges and from the bulk of the work, the entries for that competition. And that’s what it is. The winner of the most beautiful girl in Nigeria may not be the most beautiful girl in Nigeria. Let’s leave it at that. There is more we need to do about Nigerian literature rather than try to decide for NLNG. We need a proper editing guild for Nigerian literature. We have a lot of writers in Nigeria, but many are called few are chosen is what we are. I am a judge, I judge competitions, I edit works. Especially the young writers. They are so impatient. It took me six years to produce Yar’Fari. The first manuscript was completed in 2011. Between 2011 and 2019 when it went to press, it was going through different editing stages from one professional hand to the other because I had a phobia that this is my first work. I published stories, short stories in magazines and journals, but this is my first independent work. It is what will put me out there and tell the people, this is a writer. I needed it to be something worth the world of my readers. So I needed to be sure.

So as a writer, you must be patient. You must be convinced, you must tell yourself, I want to be a writer. I want to just write. Just write because you want to write. That is on one side. What about on the side of the winners? What contributions do they give to Nigerian literature or to African literature? What mentorship do they give out of that money that they win? They take it, they disappear. We only see them in the diaspora. You win money in Nigeria and you become a diaspora hero and that is it. You carry your money, you go and buy one big house in Abuja and that is all. What do you contribute to the populace of Nigerian literature? Okay, you have this privilege of winning this money. There is a loophole here to be blocked for Nigerian literature to go to the next level or to progress, you should help. 

Association of Nigeria Authors, I am sorry. That’s another apology of its own. I don’t want to go there. So those are issues we should sit down with all our passion here and address and leave the NLNG to do their thing and use their money the way they want it to. My submission. Thank you. 

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Well, I can see Dr Joan laughing and Sir BM Dzukogi also laughing. We got your submission. it was straight to the shot. Well, we the young writers also got some stray bullet. ‘Indomie Generation of Writers’. Barr. Ahmed Maiwada  called some of us Lottery Writers. Anyway, we all got the stray shots. We will address ourselves. Thank you very much for your submission. And like you said, there are a lot of things that we need to do instead of mounting pressure on the NLNG to share the cash prize, we should think of how we can get the writers to become more responsible to the literary community. So I got your point on that. I can see Sir BM Dzukogi raising his hands. I will just allow him while I come back for the next question. Go ahead, sir.

BM Dzukogi:

Okay, I want to say that the previous speakers, Auntie Aisha and Ahmed Maiwada, and probably Dr. Ola, spoke as if writers who are putting in for prizes are not writing excellently or their writing spirit is low. It’s not like that. I’m saying that there is so much grand standing on the side of Dr. Aisha, Ahmed Maiwada about, you know, those who are putting in for prizes, writers who are putting in for prizes. It’s not like that. When they were writing their books, they weren’t writing for prizes. Many of them weren’t writing for prizes. The presence of the prize is only an opportunity for them to enhance themselves and enhance their arts. Probably enhance their community and their family through the big win. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, as a sportsman, there’s nothing wrong with writing for a prize. There’s nothing wrong with it. Why is Nigeria continuing to prepare for World Cup even when it had not come? Why? They want to win it. Nothing wrong with that. It’s not the money, even though there is a cash prize attached to each win during the play, during the competition. But that’s not the issue. The issue is the glory that comes with the World Cup participation. That’s why Nigeria and countries continue to struggle to go to World Cup in football.

Now, for me, recognizing the plight in which Nigerian writers are in, we all know it. Let’s not pretend as if we are living well, as if we have all the cash to spend. Not at all. Recognizing the hard condition in which Nigerian writers are dwelling in, lack of publishing, and lack of distribution. Those shortlisted for the NLNG need part of the money which is enough to go round.

In fact, the proper environment to write is not even there in Nigeria. Some are writing on the road, some are writing under the tree, some are writing in very harsh conditions. And then you have $100,000 to give to a writers in Nigeria, where thousands of writers are suffering to get access to publishing and all of those things and you single out only one having announce three shortlist. No! It’s interesting that, Auntie Aisha’s book was published without paying at all, at Kraftbooks. I’m just knowing that for the first time. I am saying, in Nigeria, don’t give close to a hundred million Naira or so to one writer, after shortlisting three books that are good enough to win. What’s wrong with one going with 50 million Naira? The other one going with 30 million Naira. The other one going to 20 million Naira, so that they can continue to grow.

We have said here that they pick $100,000 and take flight to become diasporans, without even coming back to help their community, the community of writers. So you can see, there is the trouble. Clear lack of sense of responsibility. But there are younger ones or people who are close by, writers who also need their help. If we are advocating for a single win and they win and go away with their $100,000, why are we now querying what they do with the money? Let them go with their money nah. But if you had distributed it, you know, to three or even more, not all of them would take flight. Some would be here to help some other ones, just like Auntie Aisha advocated. This is my view. I am of the opinion that it should be a multiple win so that we know that there is a fairly distribution of opportunities for writers in Nigeria, who are finding it difficult to operate, all of us are finding it difficult to function properly as writers in this country. Thank you.

Dr. Joan Oji:

I want to thank Dr. Aisha Umar for her passion and for her testimony. What i took away from that is just keep writing. My late husband, he said from quantity we get quality. So if we don’t keep writing how would we improve? I don’t like capitalism and the NLNG prize is just a capitalist concept, this whole idea of one winner takes all. Whether it be a billion naira or whatever, it is their money, they can spend that. I don’t like it as a person. So I still believe in staggering it so that at least the top three, I’m not saying the long list, the top three should have something like compensation. The winner will still take a big chunk of it, and then the other two.

Having said that, let me also return to mentioning of Association of Nigerian Authors. The Association of Nigerian Authors is supposed to be nurturing creativity and as a loose organization of all manner of writers, professionals, freelancers, and amateurs. It hasn’t got the same clout as NLNG that instituted this prize way back in 2004, that’s some 20 years ago. As I was reading through its history, I noticed that in 2004 there was no prize awarded. Then in 2005, within a time, there were two winners of the same prize, Akachi Ezeigbo split with someone else and all of that. Again, the prize moved from 20,000 US dollars to its present $100,000. I want to say that ANA at the national level is working on improving, on nurturing and mentoring of younger writers. Dr. Aisha, you made a point that I want to emphasize and underscore. The present crop of writers are so impatient, so in a hurry to get published. I don’t even know. I think they just want their names to be seen on the cover of titles. Their English are horrible, and they are the last to admit it.

So in the end, I just decide to withdraw to my shell because, I can’t get to hurt you nor get hurt by telling you your use of English needs to improve. I personally do not write with any prize in mind. I don’t even write with any government recommendation because I retired from FCT Education Resource Center after 40 years of recommending textbooks for English language. I never once even thought of writing short stories that my office could recommend. And yet I noticed that a lot of people made money out of writing for the recommended text, but I can tell you for free that half of those authors are battling pirates. Their works have been pirated and sold by people who did not make any input. So it’s a daily battle of fighting to get the money that is supposedly yours. So we have to work together with Copyrights Commission, whatever they call it, because it’s one thing to make a good bestseller and another thing to make money out of it. Some people are probably selling Obari Gomba’s book now and making money without his being aware. And that’s one of the things that bothers me. Having said that, I want to say that my sole debut novel ‘Heart Trick’ is now being used for gender studies at Taraba State University, which I like, in the sense that I’ve been monitoring how students receive it. And I’m told that they like it for the purpose of gender in writing. Yet that was not my intention when I wrote it. So you can see that it’s part of the reason we should write, write and write. So that the academics among us, the literary gurus, and I want to borrow the word, the panel of judges, because eventually those who judge NLNG prizes are from academia, no two ways about it. I don’t give a damn about the national prize or even the other prizes. Thank you very much.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Okay. Thank you very much, Ma. I have Dr. Ismail. I would want you to say something on what we’ve been discussing so far. Should we have multiple winners or just a single winner? And other things you may want to react to, sir.

Ismail Bala Garba: 

Okay, thank you. I really didn’t intend to join the debate because whatever I would say, I think it’s already been said. However, I think I will align with what my friend Ola said that each prize has its motif, has its objective, why it was established in the first place. The NLG who instituted the prize, they had their objective in mind and we should respect that. However, that does not mean we don’t have the right to also debate whether the prize money should be split between the shortlisted writers or should the winner takes all. I believe that if there are other prizes alongside the NLNG, probably we wouldn’t be talking about splitting the prize or not. The fact that NLNG is the biggest prize and so far the only one that stands out longer than other prizes. The only comparable prize probably is the ANA prizes, which we all know what has been bedeviling ANA prizes over the years. So if there are other prizes, that may take care of this question of splitting the prize, and at the same time, having the winner takes all, like Dr. Ola said, would encourage writers to be very good about what they do. Over the years, my problem with Nigerian literature is that writers just want to write without paying attention to other details concerning writing, like language, as Dr. Joan Oji said, like editing. There are so many other things that come with writing book. The finished product has to go through a lot of processes. Now, Nigerian writers are more eager about the writing aspect of it without paying attention to other aspects. They only want to see their names on the cover. Now, if you have a very good prize, along with other supporting institutional requirements, such as good publishing outlet, like magazines that pay, editing guild or whatever you call it probably that will improve the finished product and probably NLNG prize will not have to be as it is now. So there are a lot of things that will have to come into play before we could see a clear level playing field that will benefit Nigerian writers and eventually move the Nigerian writers and their products forward. Thank you.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

OK, thank you, sir. I have one more question for Dr. Ola. Last year’s edition, we had three shortlisted works and then Grit emerged as the winner by Obari Gomba. So I’m wondering, is there a way NLNG can help see to the production of this play? I am talking of the theatre production of the work instead of just awarding it and the winner takes all, but the remaining two books we may not hear anything say a play production on them after the mention at NLNG. Can’t there be a way or can we suggest if NLNG is hearing us that maybe in the future this kind of works especially the shortlisted one should be produced in a theater so that we can also get to benefit more from their effort to promote Nigerian literature.

Dr. Ola Ifatimehin:

Important question! I was going to say to BM, what he said, is the socialist notion of sharing it among people and all that. But again, the game has made it clear and that’s my stand, which is that it is a capitalist thing and that once there is just one prize, everybody will sit up and do the needful if they are going for the competition. Now that said, the issue of staging the play. You know that it is only in Nigeria that people want to determine for the person that has money, how he goes about spending it. As funny as that may sound, it is deep with philosophical reverberations. People have set out a certain amount of money to do certain things, but of course, we have the power to analyze and even recommend. But until those guys who instituted it in the first place decide to change their ideology, it remains the same. But I’m glad that we are having a conversations all said and done.

Now, the matter of staging the dramatic text, I like to take us back always to the objective, to why it is being done in the first place. The NLNG Prize is a literary prize. The whole point about it is the promotion of literature, you know, the written text. So it ends with the written text, the written drama, especially for that category. But we in the classroom, we actually teach that the dramatic text is only a tea bag, you know, and you really do not know that it is a dramatic text until you dip that tea bag in the hot waters of performance. So you may not really understand the substance of a dramatic text until you see it being produced on stage. But I do not think that the NLNG is interested in the performative aspect of the wriiten text. My own personal view in terms of my own judgment of the shortlist, personal best of the three, I have my own selection in terms of their parameters, but I do not know.

I think that once it is a play we are judging, there is a stage value, I have it. Then if it is for its literary value in terms of the density of creativity and the articulation of thoughts, I also have my own choices. But that does not mean it takes away whatever work the adjudicators have done. So to answer your question directly, right? The NLNG prize, especially for the drama category, is simply for the dramatic text, for the written text. It is not for performance. Yes, it will be lovely that there should be some sort of, you know, have the best play getting staged and being sponsored by NLNG. That would be a lovely performance. So that is basically it.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

Thank you very much sir for that contribution. So far so good. We are almost rounding up. So I will want to, if there’s anybody with final words before we close, I will want you to share it with us. For me as the moderator, I don’t have an opinion on this. So I’ll stay neutral. But if we have anybody with any final words, should we make it a single win, a multiple win, or should LNGs go ahead with the way they are doing their things? If we have anybody, please go ahead and say that. 

Dr Aisha AbdulKareem: 

I didn’t say people should not put in for competitions. What I said was that as a writer, competition should not be the forefront of your writing, just write because the inspiration to write is there. That’s what I said. That is one. Two, if we could have other prizes coming up, even if it’s a little amount, it will help, especially the upcoming writers. Like Baba Dzukogi said, writers in Nigeria are suffering. I agree. I’m part of it. The reason why Kraftbooks agreed to publish my work without me giving them one naira is because they knew I will sell it for them. The first 1000 copies I sold it. Kraftbook did not sell one copy. I sold it. I just used my network in the university and higher social system and my colleagues all over there used it as recommended text for their student. That is how it was sold. The first 1000 copies were sold. The second reprint, the next 1000 is still there lingering and this is four years. But what I’m saying is that when you write, just write because you want to write. Sometimes, some of your works that wins a competition, it’s not your masterpiece. Your masterpiece will find favor somewhere. That I can tell you and I believe. I have sold one copy of my book for a price that will buy more than 30 copies in Nigeria. When I was writing that book, a young girl was brought to live with me. She inspired that story. The idea of even publishing did not even come. The main concern was that I just wanted to write that story. I wanted to inspire the Northern Nigerian girl-child. That is the story of Yar’Fari. What comes out of it after publication is an aftermath. It’s just coincidences.

I have power for my writing, I have power for editing a work, I have power for assessing a paper and telling you whether it is worth it or not. I am not boasting, but I can beat my chest, I have mentored younger writers, upcoming writers in Nigeria and they still relate. A young man sent me a Facebook friend request. I didn’t know who he was because the name he was using on Facebook was not his name that I knew. So when it took me time, I did not accept the friend request, he now chatted me and say, ma, you may not know who I am, but I am so, so, so person. What you taught me in creative writing in the university made me the poet that I am today. That is Sabouke in Borgu in Niger State, the editor of Konya Shamsrumi. He was my student and I taught him and he said that statement; “You create something from nothing that comes from the depth of you” was what turned him into a brilliant poet that he is. If you have read any of his poems, he is a brilliant poet. Those are the joys of being a mentor, of being a teacher, of being a writer. And for me, they are enough. I am not asking for too much. I don’t need too much as a writer. That is what I need. I am not saying those who believe in competition should not put in, no. But for me, it’s not the main thing as a writer. The main thing is the inspiration, write the work, see the product, and that’s it. That’s my goal. The Nigerian writing environment is nothing to write home about. In fact, I salute the courage of our younger ones, and I do not blame them for being an indomie generation, I’m not insulting you. I just like the passion in you, because if it was the way it is now during our time, we may not have been writers. Maybe we would not have been able to write. So I still salute you for still finding the courage to write despite the situation that bedevils the writing environment in Nigeria. Thank you.

BM Dzukogi:

Okay. I was going to say that it’s only Aunty Aisha that can bash the younger generation of writers or teen authors, that, I would permit, because she has forever been with them since 2017, she’s mentoring them, she’s in our WhatsApp group doing so many things. Yeah. So, if she’s rebuking some of them, I think it’s right in place.

Secondly, I want to say that there are a series of topics to be discussed under this HIASFEST Monthly Panel Discussions set for the year. Some of them you are already being discussed, you are preempting us. In fact, we have something on ANA too, which is a way to support the current executive to also do their job. We have some other things, like the novel in Nigeria, we have themes on poetry in Nigeria, Art Residency in Nigeria and many others. These are titles or themes crafted by the young people who are also managing this panel of discussion; Ibraheem Uthman and Olumide, are young people and young writers, and they are the ones who are sort of carrying the torch now, from the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation. So it’s not all of them that are just busy looking for prizes but are also writing intensively too. More, If they don’t even look for prizes and win, some of you will not even validate their writing, because there are no platforms for them to also show their writings here. That’s why we are probably publishing some of them, so there are all kinds of themes for this project every month, and some of the observations you have raised, I’m sure they will come forth along the line as we go, throughout the year. I just want to say this so that we know that it’s not only NLNG prize. NLNG only happens to be the first theme that we are discussing. Thank you.

Olumide Ojo Emmanuel:

So with this, we have come to the end of today’s HIASFEST Monthly Panel Discussion. I want to appreciate our father, Sir BM Dzukogi, for providing this platform for us to be able to express ourselves and also find people that we will not see almost every day to come talk to us. Thank you, Dr. Ola. Thank you, Dr. Ismail. Thank you, Dr. Joan. I can see Mr. Makama Shekwo’aga. Good evening, sir. Thank you very much. I can see Mr. Maxim, I mentioned him earlier, but he didn’t get to say something. I want to also thank Barister Maiwada. I also pray that God will keep him strong in this difficult time. And for every other speaker who has spoken, we are most grateful. And for you, who also honored us with your presence, we say thank you for joining us in today’s panel discussion. We hope you will be with us in March and the subsequent ones throughout the year. Thank you, Dr. Ifatimehin, Thank you, Dr Aisha. Thank you also, Ibraheem Uthman for putting this up. And with this, we’re grateful to have you all join us today. Have a lovely day ahead. And God bless you.