United Nigeria Airlines has pledged N20 million over the next 10 years to sponsor the prestigious Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), in a move aimed at securing the future of the literary award.
Under the arrangement, the airline will provide N2 million annually to ANA for the next decade. The sponsorship was announced by the airline’s Executive Chairman, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, following discussions with the ANA President, Dr. Usman Akanbi.
The commitment is expected to provide a more stable funding structure for the annual prize, which was established by the Anambra State Government in partnership with ANA in 2021.
The award has faced funding challenges in recent years following the apparent withdrawal of state government sponsorship.
The administration of former Governor Willie Obiano launched the prize with an annual contribution of N1 million. His successor, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, continued the sponsorship and agreed to increase the amount to N2 million annually following a request from ANA, citing inflation and rising administrative costs, including payments to judges.
According to the association, however, the state government stopped funding the prize after two years despite several reminders from ANA.
The funding uncertainty prompted United Nigeria Airlines to intervene and provide a 10-year sponsorship commitment.
Announcing the decision, Akanbi quoted Okonkwo as saying that the legacy of the late literary icon was too important to allow the prize established in his honour to suffer from inconsistent funding.
“Prof 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 decision, the airline chairman said Chinua Achebe’s contribution to African literature and global recognition of the continent deserved sustained support.
According to him, few literary and cultural figures in recent history had brought as much attention and honour to Africa and the Black race as Achebe through his writings, lectures, intellectual activism and interventions in public affairs.
Reacting to the sponsorship, the ANA president expressed appreciation to Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines for what he described as a patriotic intervention.
Akanbi noted that Achebe was not only a world-renowned writer but also the founder of ANA, which he established in 1981 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, serving as its first president.
He said Achebe’s leadership helped establish ANA as a respected literary organisation in Nigeria and beyond.
Akanbi also highlighted Okonkwo’s efforts to preserve Achebe’s legacy, citing his personal financing of a statue of the late author unveiled in July by Governor Soludo at Ugwunwasike Roundabout in Ogidi, Achebe’s hometown.
The airline’s sponsorship is the latest in a series of initiatives by Okonkwo to honour the literary icon.
In June, United Nigeria Airlines named one of its two newly acquired Boeing 737-800NG aircraft after Achebe, while the other was named after His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha.
The latest commitment is expected to give the Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction greater financial stability while reinforcing the role of private-sector support in preserving Nigeria’s literary heritage.
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