Naija Poetry Fest gifts cash prizes to emerging Poets, Creatives call out publishing houses, Govt to invest in poetry

By Omolola Dede Adeyanju

In accordance with the theme for this year’s world poetry day: “Poetry in motion, wheeling round the world”. The Naija Poetry Fest has taken its wheels to identifying distinguished and unique creatives in the world of poetry as well as encouraging emerging Poets with cash prizes.

The festival which was held at Alliance Francaise in Lagos on Friday in Commemoration of the World Poetry Day featured outstanding, famous and emerging Poets alongside other creatives in the Literary and Arts Industry.

Meanwhile, the keynote speaker, Lecturer at the University of Portharcourt, Professor. Obari Gomba in his keynote speech titled: “The songs of a nation’s state: Nigerian poetry in motion” expressed that Nigeria is a power House of creatives and the nation didn’t begin poetry when we had contact with the British, instead, poetry had always been in Nigeria’s oral culture and is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but globally.

He cited that the Naija Poetry Fest as convened by Godson Osarenren is that platform the nation needs to celebrate as well as the convener, who created such a platform out of the classroom to make poetry more open and involving for other people to see its unique face.

“It’s a beautiful thing that at this age and time, people are still involved in the art. Touching precolonial, colonial and post colonial era, poetry has been a means of relating histories to generations” he said. Highlighting several examples from wole soyinka, osadebe, chinua Achebe and others, the keynote speaker explained how they had passed key messages to the society through good piece of poetry.

Furthermore, Prof. Gomba cited factors of development for Nigerian poetry, “This is a good time for our poetry to thrive. We have more platforms, competitions, prizes, multicultural interactions and more English studying programs in many universities producing experts writing and there are interpretations to literature as well as icons, association’s and groups available”, he said.

The keynote speaker lamented the need for more and better readership of poetry, enumerating that many are not ready to pay for poetry while the best way to help a poet is by buying his collections. “We need more poets and a better readership that is willing to pay for poetry collections, we need better commitment from our citizens, more investment from publishing houses because many are not willing to invest in poetry and they believe that prose is more up-scale. We need more publishing houses giving at least 2 contracts to poetry per year.

“Many of our students do not want to be bothered by poetry, even literature students. We need more experts writing criticism on poetry. More rewarding prizes from individuals and organizations towards creativity. The Government too has to be more involved, there is need for corporate investments and we also need online visibility to Poetry” he stated.

Prof. Gomba conclusively disclosed that on the 6th of February, he was at a forum on innovation and was surrounded mainly by people who believe that television set- a scientific production is more important than a poem and a radio more important than a song as well as a handset more important than a film. However, he revealed his submission that one good poem will outlive a handset because in a couple of years the phone will become obsolete. “One good poem will outlive you. That’s why we have to pay attention to the creativity our poets are putting to our faces on a daily basis, we are creating what will endure and generations will live up to commend and appreciate” he added.

However, the Convener, Naija Poetry Fest, Godson Osarenren highlighted his inspiration and conception of the festival, dating back to 2006 where “I represented Nigeria in the Nigeria French village at the Le’ port sengol centenary celebration and was moved by the influence of Leo Port Seba Sengol, the first President of Senegal having formed a larger Community and Senegal became a hub for all poetic activities in Africa. Participating in his centenary celebration gave me so much joy and I promised to do the same some day.

“Our objectives and expectations from the Naija Poetry festival is to promote literacy, to increase writing, make people aware of poetic writing and get big on it.” He explained that the first edition was held last year at the University of Lagos and the 2025 edition being hosted at the Alliance Francaise for a bigger show.

Moreso, the panel session moderated by Mrs Bassey Solomon featured Chinua Achebe Poetry’s prize winner 2022, Mr Sylva Nze Ifedigbo who evaluated the theme, “Poetry in motion depicts the move, growth and development of literature. Even with the Advent of technology, it impacts Poetry. Just like any beautiful work of art, poetry alongside this theme can be viewed from different perspectives” he said.

Panelist, Jela Alli, examined the theme as Poetry being a continuous attempt to express one. “You can go digital with your works of art and be viral by tomorrow” he advised.

Meanwhile, another panelist, a Poet and literary scholar, 2wyth GbeduPoet contrasted the theme of the year with a person on a bicycle, moving from a nation to another. He said “It is a metaphor of a poet, despite the stereotypes and the fact that Poetry doesn’t have a large audience, he keeps writing. Riding a bicycle around the world is a tedious journey but such a person is a poet in the society. Poets do this and have a determination to take it globally across the world.”

2wyth submitted that we must acknowledge the fact that The rise and width of Afrobeat is poetry and Poetry is a seed of the entertainment industry today.

The festival reached its rewarding session for Poets who registered and showcased their talents- The Octopus grabs, where the winner Adeṣewa Alagbala received a cash prize of two hundred thousand naira. The second, Ojo Anuoluwapo Favour received one hundred and fifty thousand naira, the third runner up, Onyegbuna Priceless won a hundred thousand naira while ten other outstanding poets were rewarded with ten thousand naira each.

In an interview with the third runner up, Onyegbuna Priceless, she noted that her inspiration in poetry started as a form of expression because she had not always been vocal but expressed it through poetry. Priceless stated that she had watched herself grow from one stage to another through poetry and has met a number of people, built a Community, gotten a voice and become relevant in the society.