Albert Chinualumogu Achebe (1930-2013), popularly known as Chinua Achebe, is regarded in the Western world as the father and central figure of modern African literature — a title which Achebe, in his characteristic humility, rejected. 

Achebe, born in Ogidi, in modern day Anambra State of Nigeria, was a novelist, poet and critic. His first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which became his magnum opus, is described by literary pundits as a work that occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel.

After Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe published No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964), said to complete the African Trilogy. His later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Those seminal novels, numerous short stories, poetry, essays, children’s books, and his personal account of the Nigerian civil war, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, released October 2012, six months prior to his death, form the complete oeuvre of Chinua Achebe.   

Apart from his stunning literary prowess, Achebe collaborated with the Heinemann publishers in establishing the Heinemann African Writers Series that galvanised the careers of African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Flora Nwapa, Ayi Kwei Armah, Elechi Amadi, Cyprian Ekwensi, T .M. Aluko, Ousmane Sembène, Ferdinand Oyono, Lenrie Peters, and many others.  

In 2021, when the Anambra State Government, under Governor Willie Obiano, instituted the Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature, the world applauded the idea as innovative, and Achebe as most deserving of the Prize as the Father of African Literature. 

One million naira (about $660 today) was earmarked as prize money, to be provided annually by Anambra State Government, while the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, in collaboration, administered the prize. 

It is both sad and embarrassing to hear that after only two years, Anambra State Government can no longer meet its commitments and obligations to fund the Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature. An ANA official was quoted as saying that the Anambra Government has not funded the prize since 2023, “neither do we have assurance that they will fund the prize beyond promises”. What a shameful story! 

Perhaps we need to hear the explanation Professor Charles Soludo, the present Governor of Anambra State, might give on the issue before we begin to ask how a professor of economics from Achebe’s home state could be on the saddle of a government that committed to funding the Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature, but now fails to provide the funding.  

The Anambra State Government must rejuvenate its obligation to the Achebe Prize and encourage other well-meaning people to support it, financially and otherwise. A well-funded Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature will nurture present and future generations of writers.