BEYOND the excitement that attended President Goodluck Jonathan's conferment of national honours on 149 recipients (a couple of them did not turn up) a few days ago, it is worth noting that the exercise has again failed to capture the essence of the awards. Ideally, the objective of the undertaking, which has become a yearly ceremony, should be both to pay due recognition to citizens who have contributed exceptionally to national development; and to inspire patriotism in other Nigerians. This desire is cast in doubt and subterfuge where many of the awardees are manifestly undeserving of the awards. Unfortunately, the scenario of unjust awards has played out every year, this year inclusive.Without doubt, some of the recipients merit the honour bestowed on them. For instance, Justices Kayode Eso and Andrew Obaseki, both retired justices of the Supreme Court, did a lot in their days on the Bench to preserve the sanctity and reverence with which the court is held till date. Dr. Patrick Dele Cole is an astute diplomat and administrator; while Mike Adenuga, chairman of Globacom Nigeria is an indigenous entrepreneur of note, whose huge investment is helping to provide jobs for many Nigerians. By and large however, there is pitiably little to flaunt about many other recipients, than the fact that they are either in the public service or among the political class.The award of national honours is a global practice in recognition of citizens and international personalities who distinguished themselves in the service of their respective countries or humanity at large. Naturally, national honours carry a certain dignified aura that constitutes its moral diadem. It is to be revered and not trivialised. In its hallowed essentiality, it is pathfinder of sorts because by the act of recognition of hardwork and selfless service, upcoming generations are inspired to take a cue and make their country proud. These moral and visionary properties may have informed the institution of the Nigerian national honours in 1964. Indeed its objective is to honour Nigerians who have contributed immensely to the growth of the nation.Over the years, the goal of rewarding service to the country has suffered, in the language of the development set, a mission creep. Indeed, it has been subverted by the various warped political leaderships of the country who have turned the national award into an instrument for courting loyalty and massaging of the ego of undeserving individuals. It is the case today that reward is for the indolent while hard work is spurned and undermined. The consequence is that the spirit of patriotism embedded in hardwork and selfless service to one's country is exorcised and substituted with cynicism. This is why the national honours for more than three decades have come under virulent criticism, such that deserving Nigerian citizens such as renowned novelist Professor Chinua Achebe, human rights crusader, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and former petroleum minister, Professor Tam David West among others have rejected the award of national honours bestowed on them. Importantly, they used their rejection of the award as platform to talk at society and speak truth to power.Nevertheless, the character and content of the ruling class in Nigeria has not changed. In awarding national honours, successive governments have continued to reproduce and entrench mediocrity, honouring bashers of the national economy and those who have made the country an object of ridicule. Conventionally too, there has always been a sprinkle of known achievers whose inclusion has thereby served to put a badge of honour and legitimacy on the exercise. This is the exact complexion of the latest list of honourees: a mix canvas of villains and the virtuous.On a balance sheet, the list of honourees, though smaller than the previous year's, is still unwieldy and reads like a roll call of the ruling party. What is the rationale for honouring incumbent legislators, governors or ministers' What particular and spectacular service have they rendered to the country to merit the awards' Would it not have been wiser to allow them finish their term, upon which they can be constructively assessed'The president's action in pruning down the number of honourees this year is praise-worthy. He needs to prune subsequent list to a credible and tiny number of deserving Nigerians and friends of the country, which Nigerians can truly endorse. This is the dictate of democracy being the 'the solution to the riddles of all constitutions.' Although the process is supposedly open to public scrutiny and recommendation, it is clear that the eventual award has become a patrimonial network run by lobbyists and title-mongers and thus compromised. In a country in perpetual search for heroes and heroines, the process of awarding national honours ought to be painstaking and transparent.Serving public officials should not be honoured until they are out of service. Equally, those being investigated for alleged crime by state agencies should not be honoured. Above all, room should be created for surprises by honouring those unsung and deserving Nigerians ' the taxi driver who returned money left in his cab; the caring citizen who rescued accident victims; the whistle-blower who alerted on the looting of the national treasury, and the security personnel who prevented extra-judicial killing and destruction of properties, among many others.It should be noted that integrity is neither for sale; nor is honour something to be picked like a commodity in the market. It is not honour when it is not earned.
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