Grandpa, I watched on TV as medals and certificates were given out. Where are yours'Oh, well, I will show them to you next week.Why, Grandpa, show me now. I want to see them.OK, we did not get them today. They told us they will be ready in a week.So, are you going back again for the ceremony next week'No.Why'Say hi to Uncle. He has come to celebrate with usBut, Grandpa, what are we celebrating' You have neither a medal nor a certificate yet.President Goodluck Jonathan had a speech ready alright, but there were not enough medals and certificates to go round during the last national honours award ceremony in Abuja on November 14, 2011. So, some of the recipients went back home to pre-arranged parties to celebrate nothing but a mere handshake with the President. The young girl in the above vignette was on her way to exposing the folly of a nation but her grandfather, probably one of the last minute nominees, quickly changed the topic.Grandpa is more anxious to preserve whatever integrity the political class or the ruling Peoples Democratic Party might still have than to tell his granddaughter point blank that the government goofed once again. After all, it was his loyalty to these institutions or to some big shots in the system that earned him the award, not necessarily his achievements.However, the conversation he was reluctant to continue soon became a national conversation. The problem started with the shoddiness of the selection process, which produced nominees of questionable character and achievement. This was complicated by the rejection of the award by three prominent citizens. House of Representatives Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, argued that his own award was premature and condemned the inclusion of people who cannot be said to have merited the honours.Professor Chinua Achebe rejected the award for a second time because of the governments lack of progress on the issues he raised when he first rejected the award in 2004, namely, poor governance, corruption, patronage and injustice. We later learnt that the letter of award did not even reach him on time, a symptom of the governments characteristic tardiness. Finally, Professor Grace Alele-Williams reinforced governments lack of institutional memory by pointing out that she already received in 2004 the same award offered her in 2011!True, the colonial origins of national honours favoured public servants, but a number of post-colonial states have refocused them on those who have made significant contributions to national life or achieved unparalleled feats in their endeavours. One such post-colonial state is Jamaica. I watched its national honours investiture in 2009, when Usain Bolt became the youngest recipient at 23. He was recognised for the unparalleled feat of being the first man to set world records in the 100 and 200 metres in Olympics and later in World Championships. I also watched the 2011 ceremony on October 17. The dignity and serenity of the ceremonies as well as the inspiring citations on the recipients prompted me to investigate the selection process.Unlike Nigerias, Jamaicas nomination process is public. A notice is published early in January of the year of award and nominators are invited to download the appropriate form from the Internet and submit the completed form by March 31 to the independent Chancery of the Orders of the Societies of Honour, which investigates the nominees and then makes recommendations to the Prime Minister. Comprehensive guidelines are provided for the different categories of award. Incidentally, there is no category of award for serving officials of the government. Accordingly, the 2009 and 2011 lists were populated by private citizens, including retired public officials.In contrast, Nigerias combined 2010 and 2011 lists were over-populated by public servants, some of whom got their awards automatically regardless of the quality of service rendered. Some were even honoured when their services are regarded as scandalous to the people. Looking through the published list of the 365 awardees, it was hard to figure out the criteria for allocating different categories of honours to the few private recipients. The President took pains to explain why Aliko Dangote was awarded the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger. But if, according to him, this category of honour is given to anybody who becomes the Vice-President or the Head of the National Assembly or the Head of the Judiciary, why breach protocol to give it to a private citizen'Equally troubling is why someone like Professor Akin Mabogunje, with all his contributions to university education, business, and governance in this country, would be grouped with some questionable governors and senators in the Commander of the Order of the Niger category, while some others no more deserving than him were given a higher award of the Commander of the Federal Republic. What is even more troubling is the correlation between the award of honours to some non-deserving recipients and the award of government contracts to some non-deserving, sometimes even non-existent, companies. It is not the case that the political class has no value scale. It just ignores it for self-gratification.But the problems with the awards ceremony go well beyond the honour roll and the shortage of medals and certificates, although the shortage is worth further discussion. A popular theory is that the shortage arose from last minute inclusion of additional names after the medals and certificates might have been ordered for the original final list of recipients. But nothing is final in our system until oga says it is. In this case, oga may not say it is final until he has satisfied some political godfather or money bag who may call to promote a nominee at the last minute. Ogas action is symptomatic of how our system privileges favouritism, nepotism and patronage over meritocracy, while the shortage of medals and certificates vividly demonstrates our governments proclivity to go headlong into an activity without adequate preparations. Weve seen it at every election cycle since 1999.To be sure, these deficiencies are bad enough for our national image. But what the deficiencies represent is even worse. They are symptoms of poor governance and national malaise revealed simultaneously in deficiencies in infrastructure, education, health care, and national security. When a simple matter of awarding honours could not be handled efficiently, how do you expect that more complex issues of national life would be handled' Drive from Lagos to Benin; travel through our premier international airport in Lagos; turn on your water tap without a borehole in your backyard; or try to cook with an electric stove without a standby generator. You will quickly discover that the shortage of medals and certificates is only a symptom of more serious problems. Everything is in short supply.Equally troubling was the explanation offered by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, that the ceremony could not hold in 2010 because of preparations for the 2011 elections. Yet, the same government had time to spend billions of Naira on the 50th independence anniversary celebrations in 2010, apparently because that brought money into some pockets. Why would an annual awards ceremony be skipped for an election for which we had four years to prepare' And how come award ceremonies were held in 2003 and 2007 which also were election years' Nothing explains the skipping of awards in 2010 than gross inefficiency and lack of respect for tradition.What the government has failed to realise about its misdeeds is the burden of proof of honesty and sincerity it places on citizens. Just look at how the American Embassy has been treating our citizens or how our citizens are being treated at the Heathrow and Atlanta airports. It is all a reflection of how our government is perceived.
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