Just when it seems the Jonathan administration has hit the lowest ebb in governance capacity, it manages to find a further depth in ignominy. The 2014 national honors is obviously another typical Nigerian tragic-comedy of errors in which the Jonathan administration proved that its capacity to shock and scandalize Nigerians is infinite. Elsewhere, national honors are based on demonstrable high achievement by individuals who have positively affected the lives of their fellow citizens, country and indeed humanity. Nigerians with their remarkable genius for travesty have transformed what is supposed to be by definition; a lifetime singular honor into a childish and cacophonous instrument for the celebration of status. What has happened this year, wherein the long list of recipients include a traffic warden, taxi driver and the President’s cook and stewards has truncated any pretence at the search for and reward of excellence. In concord with the dictates of right reason and good conscience, this bare-faced debasement of national ethos and values deserves condemnation.
For a start the President approved the awards to 305 “Nigerians and friends of Nigeria” to be honored in the 2013-2014 National Honors Award, slated for September 29, 2014 at the International Conference Centre; according to a statement by Adeyemo Tunde, Director, Special Duties; Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Unlike the previous two years, when two Nigerians made the Grand Commander of the Niger (GCON), no one won that honor this time. The list indicates 24 people for the prestigious Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), including the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jubrin, Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu, acting Police IG, Sulieman Abba, National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ayo Oke, the Head of Service of the Federation Danladi Kifasi, a retired public servant Chief Philip Asiodu and Chief of Staff to the President, Brig. Gen. Jones Arogbofa (rtd).
For the Commander of the Niger (CON) category, 59 people including APC National Chairman, John Odigie Oyegun, PDP failed Osun gubernatorial candidate, Iyiola Omisore, eight serving governors, eight serving ministers, seven state Chief Judges amongst others. In the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) category, the Deputy Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje is on the list as well as the Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Martin Uhomoibhi. Four secretaries to state governments as well as the Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, are included. In the Order Of the Niger (OON) category, seven of the immediate past Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) led by Sulieman Fakai are to receive the award, as well as the State House Counsel Jalal Arabi. Others are Chief Coach of the U-17 Football Team Manu Garba, his Female U-20 counterpart Peter Dedevbo.
The MFR category include chief State House catering officer Katherine Adamu, two directors of the Directorate of State Services (DSS), Sprinter Blessing Okagbare, a taxi driver Imeh Usuah ,U-20 Female Football Team captain, Patience Okaeme, and actresses Joke Silva Jacobs and Omotola Ekeinde. The Member of the Niger (MON) list is dominated by sportsmen and women and officials who accompanied them to the championship. Others include a traffic warden, Corporal Solomon Dauda, and the head Presidential Stewards Onuh Michael and Oba Michael Adesina.
At a rate of almost one honoree per day, it begs the question whether we are dispensing honors or throwing garlands of favor to the faithful. Although these awards have been reducing in value with notable Nigerians rejecting it, this year, seems to have hit rock bottom in our value system. Nigerians have wondered aloud how the President’s chief cook and stewards got on to the list. Awardees being persons in the limelight are expected to be role models for others to emulate. It is hard to fathom how a traffic warden or a failed gubernatorial aspirant can be role models to anybody.
Looking at the list, there are glaring inconsistencies making the entire exercise look more like patronage. To begin with, a cross section of the military top brass received the honors even against their colossal failure to stem the rising insecurity caused by Boko Haram terrorists who have transformed the nation into a killing field. The honor to military officers is callous, insensitive, patently ill-conceived, morally reprehensible and dances in mockery as the nation bleeds. These awards advertise a certain hollowness in morality, in the nation’s body politics and should be reversed immediately. It is belittling and contemptible, and an insult to the Nigerian people. It is disheartening that despite the state of insecurity in the country; the President would cheaply condescend to the self-serving and unpatriotic antics of cronyism and clientelism. In a continuing orgy of ineptitude, eight serving governors; eight serving cabinet ministers and sitting judges received awards but not others leading to suspicions of favoritism. Going by antecedents, Nigerians are entitled to ask whether there is any wisdom in honoring serving governors when no one can predict how they will end up given the corruption that has almost without exception dogged their performances.
From the public debate the exercise has generated, Nigerians are not challenging the constitutional right of the President to award honors. Far from it! Their concern, instead, seems to be that there should be room for a measure of decorum and decency in the exercise. The main grouse, and validly so, therefore, remains that in the case of serving military officials, their awards ipso facto, ought not to have been contemplated because of the military’s failure to end the insurgency. Worse even their awards have no redeeming value. All these beg the question whether those in charge of these honors know what they are doing. A national honor should not be given to serving public servants while in office. It will be appropriate for such persons to receive these awards after completing their assignments meritoriously.
Most of the 2014 honorees do not deserve national honors as they cannot point to any tangible benefit Nigerians have received from their activities. What the government is doing lacks transparency and this ought not to be the case. Renowned author and statesman, Prof Chinua Achebe turned down the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) award twice. Other conscientious objectors include Prof. Tam David-West, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who all cited the questionable integrity of the entire process.
If a bunch of self-seeking morons and sycophants chose to plumb the abyss of self-degradation and drag the nation down to their abysmal level of ethical degeneration, by turning national honors into a tool to fan their bloated egos, it is at least the duty of the Presidency to halt this anomaly at the President’s desk where the buck stops. It appears the President seems more preoccupied with the ceremonial aspects of his job and has lost sight of the reasons for which Nigerians elected him. The 2014 national honors called into question the real character of the nation’s leadership and compel a deeper reflection on the moral depth of the President; who, in 2012, acknowledged the many shortcomings of the honors award process and promised a review, but has done nothing about it. Now is the time for a drastic review of the 1964 National Honors Act. Mr. President, awarding national honors to very large numbers of people devalues the honor; more importantly, it is not honor; when it is not earned!