NLNG’s $100k prize for literature is a waste of money, says Ikhide Ikheloa

Ikhide Ikheloa, a Nigerian writer and literary critic, says the $100,000 prize awarded to winners of the NLNG Literature is a waste of money.

The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Prize for Literature is an annual award celebrating literary artists in Nigeria.

The award was instituted in 2004 and rotated among four genres: poetry, fiction, drama, and children’s literature.

Olubunmi Familoni’s book The Road Does Not End won the 2024 edition of the award.

However, in an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo in 90MinutesAfrica, Ikheloa described the annual literary award as an imitation and a waste of money.

“Why are we spending a hundred thousand dollars to honour the works of writers that, at most, only a thousand people have read? It’s a waste of money,” he said.

“We are just like a mimic people. There is a Pulitzer Prize, so we’ve got to have something similar, too. There is a Nobel Prize, and so we got to have one.

“We must step out of the box of orthodoxy in order to save several generations of young people. That’s just my concern.”

Ikheloa said part of the money should be used to buy many copies of the book and distribute them to secondary schools across the country.

“If a book is good enough to get a hundred thousand dollars, we could take part of the money and buy thousands of the books and distribute them to secondary schools,” he said.

“There has to be something that the award is purposed for beyond just giving people money.

“It’s been 20 years, and I can’t even remember three people that had won the prize.

“They just get the money and disappear. Some even made great promises, like they would build a library, and that’s the end. You won’t hear from them again.”