President Goodluck Jonathan will confer the
2013/2014 National Honours on 305 “Nigerians and
friends of Nigeria” today. The award ceremony, which
will hold at the International Conference Centre,
Abuja, is a public recognition of those who have
distinguished themselves in various fields of
endeavour, and whose lives have positively affected
their fellow citizens and humanity in general.
Awardees are believed to be persons who have been
found worthy in both character and individual accom­
plishments to deserve the honour.
A major distinguishing feature of this year’s award is
that for the first time in two years, there is no recipient
for the award of the Grand Commander of the Niger
(GCON). However, according to the approval
contained in the honours’ list, 24 people are to be
honoured in the prestigious category of Commander of
the Federal Republic (CFR). Among those to be
honoured in this category are the four service chiefs:
Air Marshal Alex Badeh (Chief of Defence Staff);
Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimah (Chief of Army Staff); Rear
Admiral Usman Jubrin (Chief of Naval Staff) and Air
Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu (Chief of Air Staff). Also
to be honoured with the award of CFR are the Acting
Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the
National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki
(retd.)
A breakdown of other categories shows that 59
people, including the National Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress (APC),Chief John Odigie
Oyegun; Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko; the defeated governorship candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the recent Osun
gubernatorial election, Senator Iyiola Omisore; eight
serving ministers and seven state Chief Judges are
recipients of the Commander of the Niger (CON).
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) Chief Victor Umeh; MD/CEO of
Diamond Bank, Alex Otti; the Secretary of the 2014
National Conference,Valerie Azinge and the Comptrol­
ler General of the Immigration Service, David
Parradang, bagged the Officer of the Federal Republic
(OFR) Award. Also, 53 other persons are to be
honoured in the category of Member of the Federal
Republic (MFR). They include the publisher of The
Guardian, Mrs. Maiden Alex-Ibru, a veteran journalist,
Mrs.Moji Makanjuola and the National President of
the National Council of Women Societies, Nkechi
Mba. The list of 55 people to receive the Member of
the Niger (MON) award is dominated by sportsmen
and women. Prominent among them are Blessing
Okagbare, a gold medalist at this year’s
Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and the
Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the National U-17
football team, Asisat Oshoala. A traffic warden, Cor­
poral Solomon Dauda and two presidential stewards,
Michael Onuh and Oba Michael Adesina, also made
the list.
While we heartily congratulate all the recipients on
the honour being bestowed on them today, it is
necessary to remind them that this public recognition
of their good works should be reciprocated with
exemplary lives that are worthy of emulation. They
also should be mindful of the fact that should any of
them be found wanting in their conduct in future, the
awards that they are receiving today may be
withdrawn. It is on record that the federal government
has had reasonable cause in the past to withdraw
national honours that had been conferred on some
people.
We must say without equivocation that as in recent
years, some of the names on this year’s honours list
are not worthy of the recognition. The criteria that
qualified them for the honour are clearly lost on many
Nigerians. It is regrettable that in spite of complaints
by well meaning Nigerians who urged the government
to carefully vet the prospective names for the National
Honours, and despite the president’s assurances last
year to redefine the criteria used in selecting the
awardees, this year’s event has again come short of
expectation. The conferment of the awards, in some
respects, will not be the inspiring national ceremony
that it ought to be. In short, we find the conferment of
national honours on some of the awardees simply
distasteful.
While some of the recipients richly deserve the honour
and the accolades that normally attend it, that cannot
be said of many others who are public cynosures of
vices, and not virtues. For instance, there are some
politicians and judges of questionable character, who
have graft and other grievous criminal allegations
against them, on this list.
It needs repeating that National Honours award is a
significant and profound event that should take into
due cognizance the character, commitment and
antecedents of every potential awardee, and the im­
pact that such public recognition would have on
public morality and humanity in general. National
honours should be given to people with specific
ennobling acts of honour, sacrifice or uncommon
courage that are capable of inspiring the citizenry to
greater heights.
It is, therefore, time to redefine and reassess the
criteria. We maintain that the only way the National
Honours can remain relevant, respectable, dignified
and credible is to award them on merit. It should not
be based on political, ethnic or religious
considerations. That is the only way that the awards
can serve the desired purpose of pointing out
outstanding Nigerians that are worthy of emulation in
the country. It is only when it is such deserving
persons that are honoured that Nigeria can make
sustained progress as a nation as other Nigerians
aspire to copy their worthy examples.