United Nigeria Airlines has committed ₦20 million to sponsor the annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, for the next 10 years.
Under the sponsorship arrangement, the airline will provide ₦2 million annually to ANA, bringing its total commitment to ₦20 million over the 10-year period.
The deal was disclosed by the President of ANA, Dr Usman Oladipo Akanbi, following discussions with the Executive Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Professor Obiora Okonkwo.
According to ANA, the long-term arrangement is intended to guarantee the continuity of the literary prize and insulate it from the uncertainty associated with changes in government sponsorship.
The Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature was established in 2021 by the Anambra State Government in collaboration with ANA to mark the association’s 40th anniversary and honour the legacy of the celebrated Nigerian novelist.
The prize, which focuses on fiction, is open to Nigerian novelists at home and abroad and was originally endowed with a ₦1 million cash award.
ANA said the award had, however, faced funding difficulties in recent years following uncertainty over continued financial support from the Anambra State Government.
The association said the administration of former Governor Willie Obiano initially provided ₦1 million for the prize.
It added that when Governor Chukwuma Soludo succeeded Obiano in 2022, his administration continued the sponsorship and agreed to ANA’s request for the amount to be doubled to reflect inflation and administrative costs, including payments to judges.
ANA, however, alleged that the sponsorship subsequently became irregular despite repeated correspondence reminding the state government of the commitment.
It was against this background that United Nigeria Airlines decided to step in with a 10-year funding arrangement.
Announcing the decision, Akanbi quoted Okonkwo as saying that Achebe’s importance to Nigeria and African literature made it unacceptable for an award established in his honour to continue facing uncertain funding.
“Professor Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding,” Okonkwo said.
According to him, few writers and cultural figures in modern African history have done as much as Achebe to draw global attention to Africa and the Black experience.
According to him, few writers and cultural figures in modern African history have done as much as Achebe to draw global attention to Africa and the Black experience.
“Very few men and women of letters and culture in recent history have brought as much attention and honour to the black race and the African world as the great Achebe through his writings, lectures, speeches, intellectual activism, ethical conduct, and intermittent interventions in political affairs which has made him an authentic conscience of the Nigerian people,” Okonkwo said.
Akanbi welcomed the intervention, describing it as an important contribution to preserving Nigerian literary heritage.
“We are immensely grateful to Prof. Okonkwo and his airline for their patriotic intervention,” the ANA President said.
He recalled Achebe’s central role in the formation of the Association of Nigerian Authors.
ANA was founded on June 27, 1981, following a conference of Nigerian writers convened by Achebe at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.