His book: “And after Many Days” was the pick of the panel of judges, over Jacqui L’Ange’s (South Africa) “The Seed Thief” and and another Nigerian Juliet Iromuanya’s “Mr and Mrs Doctor” at a prize presentation held on Saturday night at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos where he received a cash prize of £15,000 and an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen, among several other rewards.

According to the Chair of Judges, Helon Habila, Nigerian novelist and poet, the three writers were selected from a long list after fulfilling some criteria.

According to award-winning novelist and poet, Habila ” in addition to the originality of voice and literary excellence, our purpose was to also select a work that portrays an African sensibility”.

The other runners-up will also enjoy a sponsored multi-city book tour while Etisalat will also purchase 1,000 copies of their books for distribution to schools, libraries and book clubs across Africa with the objective of promoting the reading culture and the publishing industry at large.

Matthew Willsher, Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, congratulated the winner and runners-up and restated the company’s commitment to continuously offer Nigerians and other Africans the best platforms to express their passion and creativity.

“From the outset, our vision at Etisalat has been to support innovation, creativity and talent development. This is why we have stayed focused on creating platforms that enable people, not only to communicate and stay in touch with one another but also to express their individual creative abilities in all forms of science and arts,” He said.

Well, congratulations to the winner, Jowhor Ile and the runner-ups.