United Nigeria Airlines has pledged ₦20 million to sponsor the Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction over the next 10 years, stepping in after Anambra State’s funding for the award stalled.
The prize, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Nigeria’s umbrella body for writers, honours the legacy of the celebrated author of Things Fall Apart.
The sponsorship deal was disclosed by the airline’s Executive Chairman, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, following discussions with ANA President Dr Usman Akanbi.
Under the arrangement, the airline will provide ₦2 million annually for the next decade, a commitment the association says will guarantee the prize’s continuation regardless of changes in state government.
The award was initiated by the Anambra State Government in 2021 in partnership with ANA.
The administration of then-Governor Willie Obiano began the sponsorship at ₦1 million, and the succeeding administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo doubled it in 2022 to account for inflation and administrative costs, including payments to judges.
However, organisers say the state government appears to have lost interest in continuing the sponsorship over the past two years, despite several reminder letters.
Okonkwo: Achebe’s Legacy Deserves Better Than ‘Epileptic Funding’
Announcing the airline’s intervention, Akanbi quoted Okonkwo as saying: “Prof Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding.”
Okonkwo said Achebe’s legacy demanded this level of commitment, describing him as one of the few figures in recent history to have brought as much attention and honour to the black race and the African world through his writing, lectures, speeches and intellectual activism.
Akanbi, a senior academic at the University of Ilorin, said ANA was grateful for the airline’s “patriotic intervention,” noting that Achebe founded ANA in 1981 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and served as its first president, giving the association its early credibility.
Airline’s Support For Achebe’s Legacy Extends Beyond The Prize
The sponsorship builds on Okonkwo’s earlier efforts to honour Achebe. He was solely responsible for financing a statue of the author, unveiled in July by Governor Soludo at the Ugwunwasike Roundabout in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Achebe’s hometown in Anambra State.
In June, one of two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft the airline purchased was named after Achebe, while the second was named after the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe.
The prize sponsorship marks the latest in a series of moves by Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines to cement the author’s legacy for future generations of Nigerian readers and writers.
