UNITED Nigeria Airlines has stepped in to rescue the prestigious annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction from financial uncertainty, pledging N20 million to sponsor the award over the next decade.
The sponsorship deal was announced on Monday by the airline’s executive chairman, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, following discussions with the President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Dr Usman Akanbi.
Under the arrangement, the airline will provide N2 million annually for the next ten years, bringing the total commitment to N20 million – a guarantee the association says would ensure the continuation of the prize regardless of changes in state government.
The yearly award, initiated in 2021 by the Anambra State government in collaboration with ANA, has faced financial constraints in the last three years following the failure of the present administration to continue its sponsorship.
While the administration of Governor Willie Obiano began with a N1 million sponsorship, his successor Governor Chukwuma Soludo doubled the amount to N2 million in consideration of inflation and administrative costs.
However, after two years, organisers said the state government appeared to have lost interest, despite several reminder letters.
“The apparent lack of commitment,” Dr Akanbi said, “caused United Nigeria Airlines to intervene and rescue the prize from uncertainty.”
“Achebe’s Legacy Demands This Commitment”
Announcing the airline’s decision, Dr Akanbi quoted Professor Okonkwo as saying: “Professor Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding.”
Speaking on the rationale behind the takeover, Professor Okonkwo emphasised that Achebe’s legacy demanded such commitment.
“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 stated.
“Prof Was Our Founder”
Reacting to the sponsorship, Dr Akanbi, a senior academic at the University of Ilorin, expressed profound gratitude to Professor Okonkwo and his airline for their patriotic intervention.
“Professor was not just a world-class raconteur and essayist, but also the ANA founder who started our association in 1981 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and accepted to serve as its first president, thus giving it the credibility and platform that has made the association highly respected beyond Nigeria’s shores,” he said.
Dr Akanbi also highlighted Professor Okonkwo’s consistent record of honouring Achebe, noting that he was solely responsible for financing the erection of a statue 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 own hometown.
A Growing Legacy
The prize sponsorship represents the latest effort by Professor Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines to cement Achebe’s legacy. In June, one of the two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft purchased by the airline was named after the late author, while the other was named after His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha.
Naming the two aircraft after both men, Dr Akanbi noted, aligns with Professor Okonkwo’s determination to uphold their values and ensure their legacies endure for generations to come.
