Nigerian poet and lawyer Ogaga Ifowodo has won the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), for his poetry collection, Why Does God Need a Gun?
Ifowodo’s win adds to a distinguished literary career spanning several decades. His other poetry collections include Homeland and Other Poems, which won the 1993 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Poetry Prize; Madiba, which won the 2003 ANA/Cadbury Poetry Prize; The Oil Lamp, which won the 2005 ANA/Gabriel Okara Poetry Prize; and A Good Mourning, which was shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2017.
The 2026 edition of the Nigeria Prize for Literature focused on poetry and attracted 223 submissions. Ifowodo’s winning collection emerged from a final shortlist that included James Ngwu Eze’s Unbind Me Now and Tares Oburumu’s Flora’s Love Colony.
NLNG’s Nigerian Prize for Literature is the biggest literary award on the continent, and the award comes with a $100,000 cash prize.
Why does God need a gun? by @OgagaIfowodo wins The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2026.
Congratulations!
#GAN26 #TheNigeriaPrizes2026 #Heritage https://t.co/b4FdiaQ8Cx
— The Nigeria Prizes (@NGRLitPrize) October 9, 2026
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