United Nigeria Airlines has pledged N20 million to sponsor the annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), for the next 10 years.
The airline’s Executive Chairman, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, disclosed the sponsorship commitment following a discussion with the President of the ANA, Dr. Usman Akanbi.
Under the arrangement, the airline will provide N2 million annually to the association for 10 years, bringing the total value of the sponsorship to N20 million.
The commitment is expected to provide sustainable funding for the prize and reduce its dependence on changing government administrations.
The Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction was established in 2021 by the Anambra State Government in collaboration with the ANA leadership. However, the award has faced funding difficulties in recent years following the apparent withdrawal of the state government from its sponsorship.
The administration of former Governor Willie Obiano initiated the sponsorship with N1 million, while the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo, which assumed office in 2022, continued the sponsorship and agreed to double the amount to N2 million annually in response to inflation and rising administrative costs, including payments to judges.
According to the ANA, however, the state government stopped sponsoring the prize after two years despite several letters reminding it of its earlier commitment.
The development prompted United Nigeria Airlines to intervene and provide long-term funding for the award.
Announcing the airline’s decision, Akanbi quoted Okonkwo as saying that the legacy of the late literary icon was too important to allow the prize to suffer from irregular funding.
“Professor Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding,” Okonkwo was quoted as saying.
Explaining the rationale behind the sponsorship, the airline chairman said Achebe’s legacy deserved sustained commitment, describing the late author as one of the most influential literary and cultural figures in recent history.
“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,” he said.
Reacting to the sponsorship, the ANA president expressed appreciation to Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines for what he described as a patriotic intervention.
Akanbi said Achebe was not only a world-class novelist and essayist but also the founder of the ANA, which he established in 1981 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and served as its first president.
He said Achebe’s leadership helped give the association the credibility and platform that had enabled it to earn recognition beyond Nigeria.
Akanbi also commended Okonkwo for his efforts to preserve and promote Achebe’s legacy.
He recalled that Okonkwo personally financed the erection of a statue in honour of the late author, which was unveiled in July by Governor Soludo at the Ugwunwasike Roundabout in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Achebe’s hometown.
The ANA president said the sponsorship of the Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction represented the latest effort by Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines to further cement the literary icon’s legacy.
In June, one of the two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft acquired by United Nigeria Airlines was named after Achebe, while the other was named after His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha.
According to the airline, naming the aircraft after the two prominent figures reflects Okonkwo’s commitment to celebrating and upholding their values and legacies.
