THE conferment of national honours on 355 Nigerians on Monday noticeably failed to excite the nation. A cloud had been cast over the ceremony earlier by Africas most famous novelist, Chinua Achebe, who, for the second time in seven years, rejected the offer of the Commander of the Federal Republic medal, the nations third highest.Achebes weighty voice brought to the fore, the misgivings of many people over the debasement of national honours over the years. Once highly cherished as recognition for exemplary service to ones fatherland, the annual national honours list has, over the years, featured the names of unsavoury persons, public office holders with dubious records of service, bench warmers, friends and cronies of sitting presidents or of the political party in power. In rejecting the CFR offer, for instance, Achebe reiterated that his reasons for rejecting the offer when it was first made (in 2004) have not been addressed, let alone solved, saying it was inappropriate to offer it again to me. When rejecting the offer in 2004, the literary icon had lamented the plight of Nigerians and the inability of the government to provide them with succour. He had been particularly incensed at the state of insecurity in the land, which he said had made Nigeria too dangerous for silence. Also declining his allocation of Commander of the Order of the Niger, House of Representatives Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, cited the proliferation of names of men of questionable integrity and people who cannot be said to have merited the honours.Across the world, national honours are highly valued recognition for exemplary patriotic service to the nation and persons so given are universally acknowledged as eminently deserving of them. In the defunct Soviet Union, the highest honours were bestowed on the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin; the United States honours its outstanding war heroes while South Africa honoured its revered icons of the nationalist struggle such as Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.In Nigeria, things appeared to have gone wrong from the beginning. The National Honours Act of 1964 drew heavily from the British colonial tradition of conferring medals on local officials holding political positions irrespective of their competence, as long as they did not oppose the imperial hegemony. But while Britain has strong institutions that ensure that only persons of impeccable integrity reach the pinnacle of political and public offices, Nigerias weak institutions, corrupt politics and extensive patronage system allow the unsavoury, untested and the incompetent to mount high offices. The national awards have since fallen short of their original concept to honour exemplary Nigerians.The groundswell of opprobrium, thankfully, did not escape President Goodluck Jonathan, who said he had taken note of criticisms and had directed appropriate departments to do the same. This is not enough, the president needs to initiate a thorough overhaul of the system to restore the dignity of national honours and ensure that awardees are authentic role models. The criteria and processes adopted by the National Honours Award Committee must be liberalised rather than the present practice of making them the preserve of a few and of state governors. The folly of allotting high honours to offices rather than individuals should be stopped. Several persons who held offices as Senate President, House Speaker and security chiefs, and were automatically honoured, have since ended up being prosecuted for corruption. Some of the 16 former governors facing multi-billion naira graft charges proudly wear national medals.Jonathan has himself underscored the insensitivity of the awards by conferring medals on security chiefs who have serially failed to crush insecurity and the Boko Haram terrorism threat. Why should the police chiefs, the intelligence chiefs and the customs head be honoured in the midst of insecurity and unbridled smuggling' The figure of 355 this year is too large; honours given to all comers lack value. Heads of government should stop padding the list with aides, friends and to repay political and other favours. One former awardee and politician was jailed for corruption, as was a former police chief. Should they not be stripped of the honours'The nations honours system should be reformed immediately. Only independent eminent people from outside of government and professionals in fields appropriate to the various honours should be made members of the National Committee for National Honours and Awards. Until the system itself becomes honourable, eminent persons should emulate Achebe, Gbajabiamila, the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, and former Petroleum Minister, Tam David-West, who have, at various times, repudiated the honours.Nigerians of integrity should not be comfortable when placed alongside corrupt politicians and officials. The awards committee has failed Nigerians by playing politics instead of using the honours list to sensitise Nigerians towards outstanding achievement and patriotism.
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