Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, his Kebbi State counterpart, Saidu Dakingari, and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, were among persons who were absent when national honours were on Monday conferred on 313 Nigerians and friends of the country.
Fayemi, who was to be honoured with the Commander of the Order of Niger, did not send any representative to the ceremony where President Goodluck Jonathan announced the placement of the designer of the national flag, Pa Michael Akinkunmi, on a salary of a Special Assistant to the President for life.
Fayemi, who was to be honoured with the Commander of the Order of Niger, did not send any representative to the ceremony where President Goodluck Jonathan announced the placement of the designer of the national flag, Pa Michael Akinkunmi, on a salary of a Special Assistant to the President for life.
Going by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission scale, the annual salary of a special assistant to the President is N14.06m.
Odigie-Oyegun and Dakingari however sent representatives to the ceremony, which held at the International Christian Centre, Abuja.
Six other governors that were listed for the CON awards – Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Governor Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); Governor Theodore Orji (Abia); Governor Isa Yuguda (Bauchi); Governor Jonah Jang (Plateau) and Governor Sullivan Chime (Enugu) – were present.
One of the highlights of the event was when Jonathan directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, to place Pa Akinkunmi on life salary.
That was in addition to his national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic.
The highly elated recipient, who spoke with our correspondent through his son, Akinwunmi, thanked the President for the gesture.
He said he would eternally remain grateful to Jonathan because he had been neglected in the past.
“Baba is very happy. We thank President Jonathan for this gesture. We are indeed appreciative of this because you all know that Baba has been neglected in the past. I am sure that this honour will spur Nigerians to continue to contribute to the development of the country,’’ his son said.
But when the President announced house gifts for a taxi driver, Mr. Imeh Usuah; a traffic warden, Solomon Dauda; and a steward, Mr. Onuh Isaac, some people at the ceremony wondered if it would not have been better for a house to be given to the 78-year-old Akinkunmi also.
The gifts to Usuah, Dauda and Isaac were in addition to their national awards of Member of the Order of the Niger.
Jonathan directed the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Muhammed, to make the houses available to the recipients in Abuja.
While Usuah was honoured for returning N18m which an expatriate forgot in his car, Dauda was rewarded for the skillful and dedicated way he had been controlling traffic in the FCT.
Isaac, who is the Head of the presidential stewards, was honoured for serving successive heads of government meritoriously since the regime of former President Shehu Shagari.
Jonathan said he decided to honour the four recipients specially because of a media report that described the steward as “a pauper in the State House.”
He said the lives of the steward, the taxi driver and the traffic warden had further confirmed his position that people who say poverty drives one to criminality were wrong.
Jonathan said, “I want to specially recognise these three gentlemen: the taxi driver, the traffic warden, and the head of the presidential stewards.
“They have further confirmed my position that those who claim that people go into criminality because of poverty are not quite right.
“Myself and some of you here knew where we are coming from, we passed through stress but we didn’t take to criminality.”
The President also paid special tributes to the National President of the Campaign for Democracy, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, who was honoured with the Order of the Federal Republic for her contribution to the entrenchment of democracy.
He expressed the hope that the national recognition given to all the awardees would inspire other Nigerians to be patriotic and contribute more to national development.
Jonathan said he remained committed to ensuring that the awards were not seen as mere pieces of paper and garlands tied around the necks of individuals not worthy of them.
The President urged Nigerians to be involved in the awards selection process by nominating those they considered worthy since members of the committee saddled with the responsibility were not magicians.
The President said, “I urge you (recipients) to realise that the honour bestowed on you is an additional responsibility to encourage you to continue to demonstrate the strength of character that has brought you to the hall of fame.
“My advice to all our countrymen and women is to thrive to be your best in your endeavour that would earn you recognition.
“It is my hope that the recognition bestowed on these awardees would encourage other Nigerians to recommit themselves to the service of their fatherland.”
Jonathan said one of the reasons why the society was no longer at peace was because of the dearth of people with noble traits.
He recalled that there was a time that people walked quietly when passing places of worship in reference to God.
Regretting that nowadays, people throw explosives into places of worship. He said the nation must return to those days when people feared and honoured God.
Earlier, the Chairman of the National Honours Award Committee, Justice Alfa Belgore, said the recipients were carefully selected to be honoured in recognition of their contributions to the success story of the nation.
Belgore said they emerged through a rigorous and painstaking screening process carried out by the committee.
He urged the recipients to continue to make the country proud and contribute to the success of the transformation agenda.
The chairman said, “All the things needed for peaceful coexistence and prosperity are present in Nigeria. All we need is stability which God will surely give us.
“If there is stability for 20 years, Nigeria will prosper and be among the seven leading countries in the world.”
Monday’s investiture brought to 4,737, the total number of the national honours so far conferred on individuals since its inception in 1963.
Twenty-five individuals were conferred with the national honour of the Commander of the Order of Federal Republic; 60 persons were honoured with Commander of the Order of Niger; 54 got the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic; 63 received the Officer of the Order of the Niger.
Fifty three were presented with OFR and 56 got MON.
One recipient got the Federal Republic Medal (First Clas
