Peter Oghenetega Oke and Feranmi Abiola also emerged joint winners of the inaugural Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts for their documentaries, Beyond Tarkwa Bay and Mara Mania, respectively, sharing the $20,000 award.
The winners were announced at NLNG’s Grand Award Night in Lagos State on Friday, according to a statement signed by the company’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, on Saturday.
Ifowodo’s winning poetry collection emerged from 223 entries, while the two documentaries were selected from 98 submissions.
The Chairman of the Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, described Why Does God Need a Gun? as a sensitive portrayal of religious and political violence in Nigeria through the perspective of an imagined victim.
She also praised the shortlisted poetry collections for their technical skill, confident expression and mature use of language, noting that they explored themes including identity, belonging, nationhood, extremism, displacement and the lasting effects of conflict.
“These are works deeply rooted in the Nigerian experience, yet they reach far beyond our borders,” she said.
For the creative arts category, the Technical Adviser to the Advisory Board, Joel Kachi Benson, said the winning documentaries demonstrated how film could preserve cultural memory, highlight overlooked communities and deepen public understanding of society.
He noted that the works documented experiences and perspectives that are often underrepresented.
The literature and creative arts awards followed the September announcement of Mary-Brenda Akoda as the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Science and Innovation.
Akoda won with GenScan AI (GenMRI/C-MORE), an artificial intelligence-powered innovation designed to accelerate magnetic resonance imaging. She became the prize’s first Generation Z recipient and the first woman to win as an individual awardee.
Speaking at the ceremony, NLNG Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adeleye Falade, said the Nigeria Prizes were established to recognise exceptional achievements and promote scientific innovation, literary excellence and artistic expression that contribute to societal development.
He said the science and innovation prize had recognised work across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, engineering, energy, technology, climate resilience and sustainable development.
Falade also described the literature prize as an important platform for Nigerian writers to engage international audiences through stories exploring identity, resilience and shared humanity.
He added that the creative arts prize would help celebrate artists who preserve Nigeria’s cultural heritage while presenting it to younger generations in new ways.
Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, who also spoke at the event, highlighted imagination as a common element connecting literature, the creative arts and science.
He argued that imagination was not limited to the humanities, noting that fields such as mathematics and physics also relied on the ability to envision possibilities beyond existing knowledge.
Soyinka called for greater collaboration between the humanities and sciences, urging practitioners in both fields to combine their strengths in the service of humanity.
Falade congratulated the winners and finalists, describing their achievements as evidence of the discipline and perseverance required for excellence. He also urged emerging scientists, writers and creatives to develop ideas capable of addressing future challenges and contributing to Nigeria’s development.
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