• Prof emeritus Ayo Banjo, former pro-chancellor, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State
• Prof. Charles Nnolim, eminent literary critic at University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State
• Prof. Dan Izevbaye, eminent literary critic at University of Ibadan, Oyo State
• Prof. Theo Vincent, literary critic and former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Lagos State
• Alhaji Abubakar Gimba, writer and former president of Association of Nigerian Authors
• Prof. Zaynab Alkali, writer and lecturer at Nassarawa State University, Niger State
• Prof. Rasheed Abubakar, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Ado Bayero University, Kano, Kano State
• Mrs Phebean Ogundipe, eminent writer and English teacher
• Mr. Ben Tomoloju, literary journalist and celebrated playwright
• Dr. A. I. Adelekan, Managing Director, Macmillian Publishers, Ibadan, Oyo State
• Chief Joop Berkhout, Managing Director, Spectrum Books, Ibadan, Oyo State
• Mr. Dan Obidiegwu, Managing Director, Longman Publishers, Ikeja, Lagos

The competition for the Nigeria Prize for Literature is now in its third year, and we are about to welcome another star in the literary firmament. We will celebrate his achievement when I announce the winning entry at the end of this report. But I should point out that the value of the prize extends beyond the single individual whom we celebrate. The sponsors of the prize, the Nigeria LNG, the Literature Committee and the Panel of Judges have remained faithful to the original vision of the prize. This prize is not only a recognition of artistic excellence, it is the high point of the process for stimulating creativity and development of a vibrant literary culture in Nigeria. It was hoped at the time that the prize would help to “improve the literature value chain” for lovers of the arts – that is, not just the creative writer, who is always the star of a literary event, but also editors, proof-readers, book designers, printers, teachers, critics, students and the general reading public; in other words, all who have a stake in the development of our literary culture. What is evident at this point is the need to nurture a tradition that places high value on excellence in creativity. Taking into account the judges’ comments on the problem of technical production at earlier competitions, there has been a progressive improvement in the production standard of this year’s entries. Writers now seem more willing to accept the need for professionalism, especially in the design and printing of the texts.

At this third year of the literature awards, it is time to take stock of the progress that we have made so far. The response to the competition has been nothing but enthusiastic, and the authors and executors of the prize have been gratified by the large number of entries for fiction and poetry in the first two years of the competition. This year’s 77 entries for drama is a little more than half of the 130 entries for poetry last year, but that is still a very large number, given the character of drama. It is a pleasant surprise to have such a large entry for drama, especially because, unlike the more lonely arts of fiction and poetry, with their almost total dependence on language, drama is the supreme art of collaboration and participation. It has its own material infrastructure and thrives on a wide range of its culture’s artistic resources.

This audience hardly needs to be reminded that a play script is only a blueprint for performance, for it is only in performance that drama is fully realized, when it harnesses the contribution of other professionals like producers and directors, designers and costumers, composers and musicians, choreographers and dancers, actors and stage hands. These contributions are not available for this competition. The judges are limited only to the literary aspects of the plays, and have to envision the performance potential of each text. It is hoped that this competition will help to put these texts on stage, for it is through performance that drama fulfils its role as a cultural activity with deep roots in our myths, rituals and beliefs. I should remind my audience at this point that although this event is a celebration of excellence, the judges’ mandate is to report on the entries’ artistic weaknesses as well as their strengths. Their report is based on a total response to the entries received.

Drama in our tradition involves communal participation in various forms of activities involving the incorporation of contributions from a wide range of performance, like singing, dancing, acting and costuming. Although these aspects of drama as theatre are not available to the judges, there are not enough indications in the plays’ themes and stage directions that the writers are conscious of their debt to our national traditions of dramas theatre and as ritual and belief. A general trend in these plays is the tendency to go back to African traditional cultures in search of solutions to modern social problems. Some writers seem to assume that patronizing African traditional cultures inevitably means digging up forms of traditional worship with all its rituals and paraphernalia. Some of the authors who take this path failed to keep their artistic distance from the material, resulting in uncritical patronage and a disturbing descent into superstition. The judges expect creative writers to give leadership in cultural matters, especially when it comes to the appropriation of our traditions.

It is regrettable that modern themes do not feature too strongly in these entries, especially technology as well as the modern religions. When some of the playwrights address contemporary problems, they attempt to solve such problems by going back traditional roots. Happily, quite a number of authors have attempted to write on relatively new and contemporary themes, like the HIV/AIDS pandemic, female genital mutilation, the ill-treatment of widows and the cultural discrimination against female children and the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War, which, for some time, was eclipsed by the national anxiety at political corruption and violence.

To arrive at their decision on the winning entry, the judges were guided by the following criteria. They expect the winning entries to reflect the following concerns:

1. national relevance,
2. successful experimentation,
3. an engagement with established dramatic traditions,
4. interest in our contemporary society or history,
5. originality in conception, creative language and style, an effective dramaturgy and a high standard of textual production – especially the quality of the design, editing, proof-reading and printing of the text.

Finally, the judges wish to stress, once again, the importance of language competence in the work of creative writers. Drama may be less dependent on language than other genres, but language is still of primary importance in its conception and realization. More importantly, by their profession creative writers are the guardians of the standards by which we judge language performance, and we expect them to contribute in a significant way to the constant renewal of our language. There should be no room for incompetence in creative writing, especially not in creative competitions.

On the basis of these guidelines, the judges arrived at the following short list of three deserving texts, described here in a strictly alphabetical order of the authors’ names.

(a) Emeka Egwuda’s Esoteric Dialogue was published by White Cock press in 2005.

This philosophical parable in verse dramatizes the resistance of a strong and principled character to the widespread greed and corruption that engulfs the nation that is adrift from any moral moorings. His friends and associates are not protected from these social pressures, but he represents the moral centre around which the forces of radical idealism set up their resistance against the powerful forces of political opportunism and greed.

The plot is framed by a prologue and an epilogue presented as a dialogue between two Voices. These do not seem to be human characters; they seem to stand for some presiding human agency observing the social setting of the action. The device is a representation of the spiritual dimension of the social themes developed in the play. The main plot is clear-cut in its characterization of actors that are almost personifications of moral positions. Hope lives on through the integrity of the central character.

The play stands out from other entries by its audacious experiment with dramatic language and form. Its intellectual intention is explicit even in the title of the play. It thus makes bold assumptions about the audience of drama in Nigeria. This experiment with verse and rhyming couplets has no doubt posed considerable challenge to the writer’s verbal resources and his metrical control of sound and movement. It is a remarkable feat that is rarely attempted in contemporary Nigerian playwriting, where writers rarely venture beyond the challenge of blank verse or free verse. By this bold technical experiment, the writer offers an important lesson for writers of his generation – that those who would master the art of writing should not be afraid to confront the challenge of technique and formal discipline.

(b) Femi Osofisan’s Ajayi Crowther: The Triumphs and Travails of a Legend was published by Bookcraft publishers in 2005.

Very rarely does a literary tribute to one of the legendary figures of Nigerian history rise to the status of high art, deserving of the attention of the Nigerian literati. Osofisan’s Ajayi Crowther attains this distinction because of its quality as drama and especially because of its excellent command of dramatic language.

This dramatic interpretation of the biography of one of the makers of southern Nigerian history is a challenging venture for any playwright. This is also, not merely because of the orthodox status of a story that comes with a ready-made audience, but because it is a true narrative whose incidents are not open to fictional manipulation. It is a challenge for any playwright to attempt creative variations of any significance on this almost intractable material. Osofisan is master of theatre enough to accept this challenge. The other challenge in this choice is the problem of chronology and scale. This is usually dealt with through flashbacks or the telescoping of events, with predictable effect on the attention and concentration of the theatre audience. Osofisan tackles this problem by focusing on political intrigue and betrayal within the early church in Nigeria, the comforting domestic relationship from which the central character draws emotional support, and the never failing entertainment value of songs. The playwright demonstrates beyond doubt that a ready-made story, biographical or historical, orthodox or sacred, may be successfully made into theatrical fare by a playwright in control of his craft.

They play, Ajayi Crowther, is a work of high technical quality by a playwright in complete command of his language and technique. This work is a model of style, stagecraft, and entertainment for other playwrights, and the technical production of the text matches the dramatic content.

(c) Ahmed Yerima’s Hard Ground was published by Kraftgriots in 2006.

This is a dramatization of the Niger Delta crisis. It is a taut account of the intense family relationships and powerful emotions kept in precarious control by the threat of violence hovering in the background of the characters’ encounters. The characters are intimately known to the audience; the son could be anybody’s son, hot-blooded, rebellious and confused by the struggle. He also suffers from a conflict of identity, with his father at the core of the conflict. Mama is the typical mother, wife and sister, whose family has been torn apart by the war. The uncle, who represents the chiefs in the region, has sold his soul to the devil for a mess of pottage. This is an organic image of the Delta, where character, action and event are inseparable, and where physical and psychological setting are integral aspects of the same theme. The story telling is quick-paced and suspenseful, up to the relentless and emotionally shattering revelation of unexpected family secrets.

This is writing of high thematic value, and of national and international relevance as it affects not only the nation’s deep concern with the current crises in the Niger-Delta, but also Nigeria’s international image. It is thus assured of the immediate attention of an extensive audience, not necessarily all theatre goers. The writer deflects the play’s focus from the political and economic genesis of the problem of the Niger Delta to the emotional and spiritual impact on characters, and the shattering effect on close family ties.

Hard Ground is a powerful and psychologically wrenching tale that draws on the sad history of the Niger Delta, as well as its contemporary, real-life political drama. It also gives us the occasional but telling glimpse into the pathos of personal relationships and the drawn-out psychological suffering of its most vulnerable characters. The playwright controls the psychological response of the audience with the play’s far-from clear-cut themes of right and wrong and the dubious political advantage of violence. But above all this, what the play effectively presents as the most valuable lesson of this war is the impact of the crisis on private lives.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to make the announcement that we have all been waiting for. The Panel of Judges has decided that the winner of the 2006 Nigeria Prize for Literature is Yerima’s Hard Ground.