Interview with the Winner, NLIPW’s 2019 National Campus Essay Competition

I had the privilege of interviewing the grand-prize winner of the 2019 National Campus Essay Competition organized by the National Law Intellectual Property Watch (NLIPW), Charles Tekena Banigo, a graduating student of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

The essay competition, organized this year for applicants to propose solutions to the myrid of legal issues confronting the movie and music industries, saw only University of Ibadan students emerging overall winners. In second place was Habeebulah Asudemade, another Law student of UI. In third place was Moses Olufemi Alonge, yet another Law student of the University of Ibadan.

Read Banigo’s winning entry here.

Below is the eye-opening interview I had with Charles Banigo:

Fantbabs: How does it feel to be the first-prize winner?

Banigo: Well, basically, it feels great that my efforts were recognized by the judges as being worthy of the first-place position because I know I gave it my all. I face every essay with the same level of seriousness, no matter the prize money or the word count. It’s a wonderful feeling to see my efforts rewarded. It’s an affirmation of my gift as a writer.

Contrary to what many people think, I started out writing very late. I mean, I had never really taken part in writing competitions. But since starting, it has been nice.

F: How did writing the winning piece go?

B: It was a miracle. I have this thing, though not intentional, of somehow always attempting all my essays on the days of the deadline itself. Sometimes, only hours to the deadline. This was one of such essays. I kept on telling myself that I could do it. When I started, I realized how much thinking I needed to do for the essay. It was really a race against time. Habeeb Asudemade, the second-place winner, and I worked on our individual essays in my room. It was really crazy. He finished his before me and even slept off while I kept working on mine because I really wanted to do something perfect. So, I kept on editing and rewriting and restructuring. It’s nice to know that it all paid off.

F: To win an essay contest, what do you think writers should pay attention to?

B: There are many things– I can’t just reel out a shortlist. First of all, you have to be a good writer, even before paying attention to what the judges and the organizers want to see. You have to be better than average. I don’t know how to explain this. How does one quantify goodness or greatness as a writer? You just have to be great. You have to be superb.

You have to be able to get into the heads of the organizers. You actually have to put yourself in their place and ask what exactly they wanted to see when they decided to organize the essay contest. That is exactly how to write an essay worthy of a first three finish. So when I write, I write, not for myself, but for whoever is going to judge my work. I mean, over the years, I have had different writing styles because I have had to write for different people to read.

F: How far do you want to go with writing?

B: Seeing that I don’t necessarily have to be a professional writer to write, there is nothing stopping me from continuing to write along with whatever I am doing. I can wake up one day and decide to write a novel or become a scriptwriter. These things just happen.

Of course, writing requires time and attention but it’s something I enjoy doing. So, it’s something I can pick up whenever I want.

F: Apart from essay writing, what other things do you write? Poems, articles, etc?

B: I do not write poems. (laughs) I hate poems actually. Sorry to all poets out there and people that like poetry. I’ve never just fallen in love with poetry. I can’t bring myself to write a single line of poetry. But I’m actually good at it. It was something I tried a long time ago and it made sense, but poetry is just not my thing. I prefer creative writing. I prefer just creating worlds out of not ing.

Articles? Yeah, sure. I was the Editor-in-Chief of the Faculty of Law Press Organization. I couldn’t help but write articles. Sometimes, 4 in a week.

F: What will you say to people who keep entering for essay contests without any luck?

B: This is quite important because I know some people who have been entering for essays over and over. Each essay I wrote, I knew they were also writing. I know they must hate me right now and be like, ‘This guy just keeps winning.’

I think they need to take a step backwards and just evaluate. All the time, you need to check your writing. You need to check if your work appeals to just you. Are you just writing your views– hooray!-– or it’s exactly what the judges want to read that you are writing?

For example, if an essay contest is being organized by the Democrat Association of Nigeria on LGBT, of course, what I personally think of LGBT rights would most likely be entirely different from what the Democrats think. I mean, such people are hardliners on LGBT rights being fully incorporated into the Constitution. If democrat-leaning people organize an essay contest, surely, I would write what they want to see as opposed to my own personal views.

You also need to be aware of recent happenings. No matter what your essay is, there is always a very recent trend that you can always tie your essay to. There was an essay I wrote on international development. I tied it to Iyin Aboyeji and Ola Brown– youths who had achieved a lot in recent years. There was another essay on political participation. I tied it to people not going to collect their voter’s cards. I mean, these were things that were happening at those moments. It’s always very important to make your essay have a broad coverage.

So, make sure your essay does not just appeal to you alone but also to the judges and other readers.

F: What does creativity mean to you?

B: I think you can only call yourself creative after you’ve written something, a story or an essay. When you have people arguing over the characters in your story, that’s when I feel you have truly arrived in creativity. If your story makes so much sense that your characters come alive for people and they can actually argue on them, then you are creative. Take Harry Porter for instance. After J. K. Rowling finished, people got so drawn into it that they argued extensively about it. Many things came up. People were choosing their favourite characters. People were imagining themselves in houses in Harry Porter. That’s how you know a person is truly, truly creative. If you can create a worldwide conversation around your work and people can gist about the world, places, events and characters you created as though they were real, then you have really arrived. You would have stamped your work and left an indelible mark in their minds.

F: Who are the writers you look up to in UI?

B: As of now, there is none. I used to look up to Kunle Adebajo– I mean, everyone looked up to Adebajo. If you didn’t look up to Adebajo, then your village people were following you. I liked his tenacity. From 100 level, he had started writing. I really didn’t know how he managed to create time for his writing. There are other people who have impressed me one way or another by how they approach their writings. People like Habeeb Asudemade who source out virtually every essay competition and take time to apply. I’m quite lazy when it comes to that. Like I said, I leave my stuff till the day of the deadline.

F: What impact should any writing have on the society?

B: Well, it depends on why you’re writing, basically. I don’t think it’s okay to say all writing should have impact. I mean, some people have been writing just to entertain some other people. If I am a romance writer, you can’t be asking me about impact. But if you are a political writer, then your writing should be able to stir up consciousness or political activism in people. If you are a motivational writer, you should be able to motivate people. So, I think the question on impact should be tailored to the kind of writing a person does in the first place.

F: Where do you see yourself writing-wise in the next 5 to 10 years?

B: I see myself winning more awards and more bags of money.

On behalf of myself and my blog, I congratulate Charles Banigo!