Renowned novelist Chimamanda Adichie on Monday forced members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to raise the prize money for women in the ongoing football tournament to N3.2 million.
The tournament is part of activities lined up for the 62nd annual general conference of the NBA.
Chimamanda, who was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the conference in Lagos, had said there was disparity in the prize for winners in the male and female categories.
The NBA pegged the prize for the winner in the male category at N500,000 and the female at N200,000.
Chimamanda said that the disparity did not reflect the theme of the conference which is bold transitions.
Thus, after her speech, dignitaries at the event took turns to make voluntary donations for the female category.
The prize for the female category consequently rose from N200,000 to N3.2 million.
The event had in attendance past presidents of the NBA, senior advocates of Nigeria, and some presidential candidates for the 2022 NBA elections, among others.
Chimamanda said that the words – troublesome and innovative – have their pride of place in the NBA.
According to her, both words are often used to describe negative emotions whereas they can also describe positivity.
“Traditionally, the word disruptive has often been used in a negative sense; we have school teachers who reprimanded students for being disruptive in class.
“Traditional synonyms for the word disruptive could mean troublesome, disorderly, unsettling or trouble making; but today, the word disruptive has taken a more positive connotation especially concerning technology and access to information.
“Troublesome and innovative may seem opposed to one another but I will argue that they have their pride of place in the Nigerian Bar Association.
“Many people who have abused their powers in Nigeria will describe the NBA as troublesome: to me, this is worthy of praise,” she said.
According to her, it is common to refer to people who are pacesetters, rights activists or social critics as troublesome owing to their stand or viewpoints on issues.
Chimamanda said that troublesome could then be viewed as positive.
