Ogaga Ifowodo Wins NLNG-Backed Literary Honour for Poetry Collection
Ogaga Ifowodo has received Nigeria's major NLNG-backed literary award for his collection, "Why Does God Need a Gun?"
Nigerian poet Ogaga Ifowodo has been named the winner of this year's NLNG-backed literary competition for his collection, "Why Does God Need a Gun?" His selection comes with a cash award of $100,000.
The announcement was made on Friday during NLNG's Grand Award Night in Lagos. Ifowodo's collection emerged from 223 entries submitted for consideration in the literature category.
Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, chair of the prize's advisory board, said the winning collection examines religious and political violence in Nigeria through the imagined experience of a victim. She also praised the three works that reached the final stage, noting that the shortlisted books approached difficult questions of identity, belonging, displacement, extremism and national expectations from different creative directions.
The ceremony also introduced winners in the Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts. Peter Oghenetega Oke and Feranmi Abiola shared that recognition for their documentaries "Beyond Tarkwa Bay" and "Mara Mania." Their films were selected from 98 submissions, with $20,000 allocated to the creative arts category.
Joel Kachi Benson, technical adviser to the creative arts advisory board, said the documentaries demonstrated how filmmaking can bring attention to communities and experiences that may otherwise receive limited visibility. The organisers highlighted storytelling that records culture, preserves memory and expands public understanding of Nigerian life.
Another award linked to the programme had previously gone to Mary-Brenda Akoda in the science and innovation category. Her project, GenScan AI, also described as GenMRI/C-MORE, applies artificial intelligence to accelerate magnetic resonance imaging. The source reports that Akoda became both the first Generation Z recipient of that prize and its first individual female winner.
NLNG Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Adeleye Falade said the company's awards are intended to encourage achievement across literature, science and the creative arts. He pointed to earlier science recipients whose work addressed areas including health, agriculture, engineering, energy, technology and climate-related challenges.
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka also addressed the gathering, focusing on imagination as a quality shared by writers, artists and scientists. He argued for stronger connections between scientific disciplines and the humanities, saying creativity and discovery both depend on the ability to think beyond what is already known.
Ifowodo's success places his poetry collection at the centre of this year's literary recognition, while the addition of documentary filmmaking broadens the wider awards programme beyond its established focus on literature and science.