Tares Oburumu, one of the poets shortlisted for the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature, says his collection Flora’s Love Colony is not about romantic love but Nigeria’s identity and its troubled history.
Soeaking during the interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Oburumu said the collection examines Nigeria from the pre-colonial era through colonial rule and the post-colonial period, arguing that little has changed across the three periods.
“I decided to write about It’s not about love. It’s not about love. It’s about Nigeria itself.”
He said he examined the country’s history across the three periods and found similarities in Nigeria’s development and challenges. “I looked at the pre-colonial times. I also looked at the colonial times and the post-colonial. And I see that there’s not much difference between the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial Nigeria.”
Oburumu said Flora Shaw, who is credited with proposing the name Nigeria, is central to the collection because of her connection to the country’s identity. “And the main issue, or the main person behind us being together as Nigerians is Flora. And I think she named us Nigerians.”
He said Shaw’s naming of Nigeria was linked to how she viewed the people living within the geographical area. “She didn’t do that because she felt we are people that need to be joined together. She felt these people are living in a particular place.”
According to Oburumu, the collection explores the identity of Nigeria as a country and the identities of the individuals. “So she was looking at identity. The identity of Nigerians, the identity of the individual, the various places, tribes that makes us Nigerians.”
He said he was also motivated by what he considered a gap in Nigerian literary documentation on the country’s historical periods and their continuing influence. “And when I looked at it, I also decided that in the literature of Nigeria, there has not been any documentation on these very serious principal issues.”
Oburumu said the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods continue to have a strong influence on Nigerians. “Because the colonial, the pre-colonial, the colonial and post-colonial era has a very, very strong influence on us.”
He described Flora Shaw as an important figure in the structure of Nigeria’s identity and linked her naming of the country to an expression of affection. “And Flora, being the architect of the whole structure, I think she loved us enough to name us Nigeria.”
But Oburumu said Nigerians were not living up to the meaning and identity attached to the name.
“But we are not reflecting that name. We are not reflecting that name and we are kind of giving ourselves the motive that there is no need to be non-Nigerian because of what you can see what is happening all over the country.”
He stressed that the collection’s reference to love is not primarily about romance, but about a woman’s desire for a country. “So Flora Love is not a love particularly, but it’s just a woman’s desire for a country.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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