Sam Loco for this year’s NLNG awards

It is a season of major changes in the way the Nigeria LNG is doing its business! The company has decided to focus on national tradition by bringing in some of the nation’s truer heroes. Therefore, this year’s Keynote Speaker and Special Guest are completely different from the norm. Moving away from a list that […]

It is a season of major changes in the way the Nigeria LNG is doing its business! The company has decided to focus on national tradition by bringing in some of the nation’s truer heroes. Therefore, this year’s Keynote Speaker and Special Guest are completely different from the norm.

Moving away from a list that has included Senate President David Mark, former Biafran warlord Emeka Ojukwu, GeneralIbrahim Babangida and others, the NLNG is looking inwards and inside the core arts industries in this year’s edition, which holds on October 9, 2010 at the Eko Hotels, Lagos .

Sam Loco as he is popularly called, has been selected as the Special Guest – a decision which some writers and journalists have described as ‘surprising’.

The invitation, according to the company in a letter to the veteran performer, is essentially because this year’s literature prize is for drama and ‘’there is no one, in our opinion, worthier of this honour than Sam Loco Efeeimwonkiyeke. You have over the years changed your medium, but have not changed your gift for bringing smiles to the hearts and faces of our compatriots. You are an actor with whom everyone feels a special bond of kinship irrespective of tongue or tribe.”

Seventy years old this year, and a graduate of Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan, Loco-Efe came into limelight when he was voted best actor for his role in Langbodo, Nigeria’s only drama entry for FESTAC ‘77 directed by Dapo Adelugba. Also in 1996, Loco won three awards in the THEMA edition. Some of his popular works include: Picadilly Circus, Sergeant Okoro and Ukwa. He was at a time national chairman caretaker committee of the Actors Guild of Nigeria as well as chairman, board of veterans of the same guild.

Sam Loco-Efe has also remained a mentor and a role model to the youth. And in his private life, he has symbolised what is right about Nigeria, what is noblest and best and what human beings have pursued since the beginning of history – love for self, family, nation and profession.

“Many, many years ago, Nigeria hosted the world to FESTAC 77 and a Nigerian drama, Langbodo was staged to a full house at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos,” said a letter from the company, signed by Ifeanyi Mbanefo, the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager. “Sam Loco Efe was Akarogun and he gave a performance of matchless beauty. The silence when he finished was, I am sure, a greater ovation than any artiste had every received in that hall. It was so good that General Olusegun Obasanjo, then the Head of State ordered that the play be broadcast on network television every morning throughout the duration of the festival.”

This year’s Keynote Speaker is also another surprise. Taking over from Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, this year’s speech will be delivered by the Managing Director of the Company, Chima Ibeneche – based especially on his feat for stabilising the company in a time of global economic crisis.

Inaugurated in February 2004, The Nigeria Prize for Literature, The Nigeria Prize for Science and The NLNG Grand Award Night have been well received by a cross section of our compatriots, especially the corporate world, the academia and literati. Both prizes have cash values of $50, 000 each.

The prize for literature rotates yearly amongst four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature, while the prize for science is awarded to the scientist whose work made the most impact in furthering the frontiers of knowledge. This year’s award goes to drama.

The decision to institute these prizes was reached after several meetings with some stakeholders, including representatives of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences (NAS), Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), writers, eminent scholars and literary critics.

Planned as a prestigious ceremony that will go into the country’s cultural calendar, The NLNG Grand Award Night provides the forum for the award of the science and literature prizes and fulfils a major objective of promoting excellence in our national life.