What is the pedigree of the people we as a Country have
chosen to honour year in and out? What are the definite yardsticks for such
honours? How did they even make the money we seem to be celebrating? How come
we don’t have an insight to their journey into stardom? How many of them made
their wealth through embezzlement of public funds and how many honestly amassed
wealth?
Has there ever been any summary of achievements that
has warranted the people so honoured on this list? So how do you prove to the
world that they actually merit the award as we are being told? All we ever see
is a long list of names known and unknown, People with clean sheets amidst
those who have at one time or the other been indicted for different offences
ranging from corruption to embezzlement of public funds. What better definition
of confusion can one deduce from this?
It is so disheartening that respected people in the
society who are known to have made {and who are still making} invaluable
contributions are hardly ever mentioned whilst some unworthy people receive
higher honours. Year in and out, the story has been the same with National
honours given mostly to government officials to whom you could not credit with any
achievement. This is usually capped with some other characters-who, in another
Country, would be in jail conferred with National honours
My former State Governor who only succeeded in being
the repairer of projects State Governors before him initiated {Olusegun
Obasanjo reiterated this on his visit to my State} found his way into that list
about a year ago. This same man was indicted as the Minister of Power and Steel
before he got ‘voted’ in as the Governor and up till today cannot pin point any
major landmark in that State to warrant being honoured. How then do you think I
being a citizen of that State would have any form of regard for such an award?
In my own opinion, giving out National honours to
serving government officials is synonymous to giving out medals to athletes
even before running the race. When people such as Bode George, Tafa Balogun,
Cecelia Ibru, Dimeji Bankole and the likes are still carrying National honours,
then you can tell the dishonour that has become of such a ‘honour’....little
wonder the likes of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Hon Gbajabiamila rejected
such a horror!
In Abuja, a cab driver Mr Umeh Usuah found and returned
the sum of N18M a passenger forgot in his cab to its rightful owner, his name
should be on that list.
Another is a Nigerian Aviation Handling Company {NAHCO}
employee Salami Ibrahim who found and returned a wallet containing foreign
currencies of 25,000 Pounds and 5,000 Euro totalling about N7.3million when
converted. He found this huge amount of money while cleaning an aeroplane
belonging to an airline. It might interest you that Turkish airline was the one
who rewarded this man with an all expense paid trip to Istanbul despite the
fact that the aircraft in question wasn’t theirs. This young man ought to also be
on that list.
The thirteen medallists who made the Country proud at
the just concluded Paralympics event more than deserve to be on that honour
list because they ended up saving our face after the abysmal performance at the
Olympics. They have made a statement against all odds and should be rewarded so
as to instil confidence in the people that hard work pays.
I am tired of a Country who chooses to honour those who
have deprived the common man of their rights to a decent life over/at the
expense of those who have demonstrated unquestionable integrity, valuable character,
honesty, done the country proud, been good compatriots and have written their
names in gold.
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