United Nigeria Airlines Injects N20m to Rescue Chinua Achebe Fiction Prize for 10 Years

United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) has stepped in to safeguard Nigeria’s literary heritage with a N20 million commitment to sponsor the annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction for the next decade.

The deal, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), guarantees an annual grant of N2 million over 10 years, effectively shielding the prestigious literary award from the uncertainties of government funding cycles.

The long-term sponsorship agreement was finalised following high-level discussions between the Executive Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, and ANA President, Dr Usman Akanbi.

Initiated in 2021 by the Anambra State Government under former Governor Willie Obiano with a baseline funding of N1 million, the prize was designed to celebrate literary excellence in honour of the legendary novelist.

While the successor administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo initially doubled the purse to N2 million to offset inflationary pressures and administrative overheads, state support soon waned.

Organisers noted that despite repeated appeals, the state government had virtually abandoned the initiative over the last two years, leaving the prize facing severe financial headwinds.

Stepping in to fill the void, Prof. Okonkwo stated that the literary icon’s legacy is far too critical to be subjected to erratic funding.

“Prof Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding,” Okonkwo noted. “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.”

Expressing relief over the intervention, Dr. Akanbi—a senior academic at the University of Ilorin—lauded the airline’s corporate citizenship.

“We are immensely grateful to Prof. Okonkwo and his airline for their patriotic intervention,” Akanbi said. “Prof Achebe 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 served as its first president, giving it the credibility and global stature it enjoys today.”

The 10-year endowment provides much-needed institutional stability for the prize, ensuring Nigerian writers continue to have a well-funded national platform to showcase their craft.

Wole Shadare