By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Poetry, a genre of literature, is an old art whose origin dates to centuries of years ago. And it was William Wordsworth, who defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which are recollected in tranquility. But in Nigeria, it is perceived as a labour of love. In spite of Nigerians’ unflattering perception of poetry, Nigerian poets, who are holding aloft the poetic heritage and legacies left behind by Chris Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, and John Pepper Clark, are churning out poetic works.
Thankfully, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) had instituted a literary competition, our own equivalence of the Nobel prize for literature, which rotates among these genres of literature, namely children’s literature, poetry, drama, and prose. This year’s edition of the NLNG literary competition is for poetry. And 223 entries were received for the competition.
Interestingly, Tares Oburumu, a poet, who has written himself into global reckoning, is on the shortlist for the coveted 2026 NLNG literary prize. The other contenders for the poetic prize are James Ngwu Eze and Ogaga Ifowodo, both of whom had held exalted political posts in the past. Any of them could win the prize. But Oburunmu is hopeful that he will win the literary poetic prize.
Oburumu has worked his fingers to the bone to achieve literary stardom. Over the years, he has honed his poetic skills and experimented with many poetic techniques to create his own poetic style and voice. His tortuous journey to literary greatness was marked by a mixture of failures and successes. While some of his poetic works were rejected by publishers and journals, others were accepted by them. Not deterred by obstacles he encountered in his writing journey, he soldiered on.
Later, good fortune smiled on him, and he won the Sillerman First Book For African Poetry in 2022. His winning that literary prize announced him to the world and boosted his enthusiasm for writing poetry. That literary prize, which he won, secured a place for him in the pantheon of Nigeria’s literary greats. Before then, he had won the GAP poetry prize (Defunct) in 2014. From the foregoing, it can be seen that his emergence on the shortlist of 2026 NLNG literary prize is not a fluke.
But Oburumu had overcome a difficult childhood to emerge as a literary star. He recounted that nursery school education eluded him; and that he attended a primary school where he sat on bare ground to listen to their teachers’ educational teachings. He further said that their primary school’s teachers teach them only four subjects, namely English language, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Christian Religious Studies.
“At the time I was of age to attend school, there were no nursery schools or phase in my place of birth. So I started from primary school. I would say that it was an empty school because it was in a remote place and the people care less of education.
“I recalled that we had no school library, no books, and only about four teachers taking up the arduous task meant for eight or more teachers.
“And we were taught just four subjects: English language, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Christian Religious Studies. We sat on the mud floor until we were in primary four. It was then I wore my first school uniform, which my mother bought with funds she was saving for her fish trade,” Oburumu said.
He narrated how his mother made huge sacrifices and worked hard to help him and his siblings achieve their lives’ aspirations and goals. His mother who dropped out of school when she got pregnant didn’t want him and his siblings to suffer the same sad fate as she suffered. Oburumu was raised in a home where the father was absent. It was a case of deprived childhood.
Not surprisingly, his mother is the afflatus that actuates and drives his poetic enterprise. According to Oburumu, he saw his mother in the lines of poems written by Soyinka, Okigbo, Walcott, and Transtomer, which he had read, innumerable times. And the poetic works of Okigbo, Walcott, and Eliot have great influence on him. His appropriation and melding of their poetic styles birthed a medley, which is authentically and uniquely his. Little wonder, Oburumu has become a star poet.
And he is on the shortlist for the 2026 NLNG literary prize. Tares Oburumu’s poetic work titled Flora’s Love Colony, which is shortlisted for the 2026 NLNG literary prize is a classic re-telling and re-imagining of our chequered colonial past, which encompasses our country’s troubles, flaws, assets, and beauty. That book of poetry is a product of research. Oburumu said that the book would have come out better had the original manuscript not been lost.
And Oburumu’s poetic work is shortlisted alongside James Ngwu Eze’s “Unbind Me Now”; and Ogaga Ifowodo’s “Why Does God Need A Gun’ for the 2026 NLNG literary prize. But if he wins the literary prize, it will have significances for Nigeria’s literati and aficionados. It will be a proof that the circumstances of a man’s birth and his geographical abode cannot impede his intellectual pursuits and creative ingenuity. Again, if he wins the prize, his victory will inspire millions of young people, who are inclined to literature, to take their creative writing, seriously. Another significance of the anticipated Oburumu’s victory is that the resilience of a man’s spirit can take him to a great height in his chosen area of specialization.
The past winners of the yearly NLNG literary competition for the poetry category were Ohaeto Ezenwa and Gabriel Okara, who were joint winners in 2005; Romeo Origun’s Nomad, 2022; Ikeogu Oke’s Heresiad, 2017; and Tade Ipadeola’s Sahara Testament, 2013. Can Tares Oburumu join the lengthening list of the winners of the most prestigious literary prize in Nigeria? The answer blows in the air now.
