President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday conferred the country’s preeminent honours on 449 persons, including seven foreigners.
Beneficiaries of National Honours Awards must essentially be deemed to deserve it. The contemplation of nominees should be subjected to public validation. The publication of nominees should afford members of Nigerian public the opportunity to scrutinize the personas of the individuals that have apparently passed through the mills of character deconstruction, to ensure that they are fit and proper persons for such national honours.
The legal basis for the institutionalization of the National Honours was established in the National Honours Act No.5 of 1964 and these honours are a set of orders and decorations conferred upon Nigerians and friends of Nigeria. It was instituted during the first republic to honour Nigerians and friends of the country who had rendered service to the benefit of the nation. Considering this fact, the public should be offered the privilege of analysing the process of nominations for the awards to ascertain how meritorious the awardees are.
Ten distinct categories of recipients were canonised by the National Honours Awards’ Committee saddled with the responsibility of nominating names of people to be awarded. The committee was Chaired by a former Supreme Court Justice, His Royal Highness, Hon Justice Sidi Bage, the Emir of Lafia, with the members drawn across the six geopolitical zones, under the supervision of the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume.
Reactions have trailed the list of the awardees. The list was formally released on Sunday, October 9, 2022, and placed later during the week in some national dailies, comprising of 449 names.
To get selected, according to the arrangement of the national honour, the nominees must certainly have done something that the country is proud of. Such factors include: inventions and performance in an important job or assignment, loyalty and patriotism to the country. The award stands in form of reward for selfless service that the individual has rendered, in a way to encourage him/her for more meritorious services to the nation.
Again, the nominees are at liberty to reject their nominations if they feel it’s not worth it. There the examples of Late Prof. Chinua Achebe and Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, even though the latter has been awarded a posthumous award of GCON.
In any case, none of the nominees for this year’s award rejected the offer. Some have attributed it to the “good work” of Senator Akume-led ministry and the “good efforts” of Sidi Bage-led committee.
Meanwhile, the awards have attracted some criticism from the public domain as well as some civil society groups. There is the school of thought that argued that the awards were politically based, saying that the list contained too many politicians and political aides at the expense of deserving Nigerians who are making difference in many critical spaces outside the headlines.
A critical appraisal of the awards reveals that there are persons awarded who were made popular by hanging around the corridors of power for long periods. These are people that you cannot really pinpoint their contributions to the country.
Of course, there are a few of them that their selection attracts applause. For example, no one would want to contest the choice of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Timipre Sylva, Former Corps Marshal Dr Boboye and Chairman Caverton Offshore Support Group among others. Their developmental contributions nationally and internationally cannot be overemphasized.
In Nigeria today, the public attitude to patriotism is arguably worse. There is no more burning desire to love and defend the nation. Almost everyone seems to be after what he/she can get from the country. Only a few are ready to offer their best. Everyone wants to run out of the country at the slightest opportunity, as much as we understand why.
But, despite the nation’s failures, patriotism continues to beat in few exceptional hearts. We should be meticulous enough to fish out this category of people for our national honours. It is not compulsory we have a large number like we had it this year in an edition. It shouldn’t be an award of making the number. Another problem we have is this quota system, every state must be represented, not minding if there are deserving people in a particular state. What is wrong in having only 50 honoured in an edition? It should not be a thing of who knows whom. It should not be an affair of politicians. The awards should not be meant for the rich and the influential. The choice of an awardee must be based on merit. Let’s put the cap on he who fits. By so doing, our National Honours Awards will be more deserving.
National honours should be for the patriotic, who have given so much, risked so much without expectations of rewards. These are people whose conception of Nigeria flies high above the many things wrong with the country. These are the deserving ones to be considered for national honours.