Nigeria Prize for Literature: Poet Ogaga Ifowodo wins $100,000 for 'Why Does God Need a Gun?'

Nigerian poet Ogaga Ifowodo has won the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature and its $100,000 award for his collection 'Why Does God Need a Gun?', as announced on Friday, October 9, 2026, during the Nigeria LNG Grand Award Night at the Eko Hotel and Suites Convention Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The collection was chosen from 223 submitted works, and later from a shortlist of three titles. Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, chair of the prize's advisory board, announced the winner and described the book as a sensitive portrait of religious and political violence in Nigeria, conveyed through the voice of an imaginary victim. The three finalists, she noted, share the same obsessions: identity, nation, extremism, displacement, and conflict—in other words, an inventory of the open wounds of Africa's most populous country.

A creative arts prize established this year

The same evening saw the presentation of the inaugural Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts, dedicated this year to documentary film and worth $20,000. Two directors are sharing the prize: Peter Oghenetega Oke for 'Beyond Tarkwa Bay', filmed in a coastal community in Lagos, and Feranmi Abiola for 'Mara Mania'. Under the theme 'Identity', the competition received 98 entries, which were narrowed down to eleven nominees and then five finalists, including 'Okrika' by Abraham Ayodele Aiwuyuse, about the second-hand clothing trade, and 'Women of Salt: The Resilience of Ebonyi's Women' by Jessica Chinyere, about traditional salt producers.

Joel Kachi Benson, technical advisor to the prize's advisory board, praised the films for, in his words, 'amplifying voices that are too rarely heard.' The selection says something about contemporary Nigerian documentary filmmaking: it captures fishermen, thrift stores, and salt makers rather than drawing rooms.

Science on par with literature

The third prize of the evening, the Nigeria Prize for Science and Innovation, also worth $100,000, went to Mary-Brenda Akoda for GenScan AI, an artificial intelligence tool that accelerates MRI scans. She is the first woman to receive the award as an individual and the youngest laureate to date.

Adeleye Falade, Managing Director of Nigeria LNG, opened the ceremony by presenting these prizes as national institutions for recognizing excellence. Nobel Laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka, who was in attendance, advocated for a closer relationship between the humanities and the sciences, noting that imagination is the common ground between the two. A useful reminder: on the continent, funding creation is not a luxury but an investment.