Ogaga Ifowodo Wins $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature

Nigerian poet, lawyer, and human rights activist Ogaga Ifowodo won the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature on Friday, securing the $100,000 award sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited. His poetry collection, "Why Does God Need a Gun?," was selected from 223 entries after a rigorous judging process that produced three finalists.

The winning work explores religious intolerance, terrorism, and political violence in Nigeria through a tripartite allegorical structure of body, mind, and spirit. It defeated shortlisted collections by James Ngwu Eze and Tares Oburumu. Advisory Board Chairperson Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo praised the collection as a sensitive portrayal of violence narrated through an imagined victim's voice.

“By falsely invoking the name of God, they appeal to our innate fear, awe and worship of God, hoping thereby to prevent any rational examination of their motives and their quest for power and domination over the rest of us.”

The award ceremony took place at the Grand Award Night in Lagos on October 9, 2026. The 2026 edition focused on poetry, continuing the prize's rotation among literary genres. Ifowodo, born in 1966 in Delta State, has previously won multiple Association of Nigerian Authors poetry prizes and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award following his 1997 detention under the Abacha regime.

In a separate category, the inaugural Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts awarded $20,000 jointly to documentaries "Beyond Tarkwa Bay" by Peter Oghenetega Oke and "Mara Mania" by Feranmi Abiola, chosen from 98 submissions.