15th June, 2025
By: Amir Abdulazeez
If we can recall, on 7th October, 2015 a 19-year-old student, Hassan Mohammed Damagum sacrificed himself to save others from a suicide bomber who attempted to attack a mosque during the Subh (Dawn) prayer at Buhari Housing Estate in Yobe State. Hassan had sensed that the individual standing next to him was a suicide bomber trying to kill people. The boy was said to have confronted the bomber which blew both of them off. Again, on 25th January 2017, Yakubu Fannami, another student from Borno State who was just in SS1 died a hero while preventing a suicide bomber from entering at the Darrusalam Science and Islamic Academy in Maiduguri. Fannami tackled the female suicide bomber, preventing her from reaching the mosque and detonating her explosives, thus saving the lives of many worshippers.
To the best
of my research which may be inadequate, none of the two boys were publicly
given a significant national recognition. The story of Nigeria is replete with
the neglect of brave and heroic citizens who had sacrificed a lot and even laid
down their lives to save others. Since 1999, Nigeria has always chosen to
reward and honour many lazy elites who had contributed virtually nothing, but
rather became huge beneficiaries of government patronage and corruption. Every
President has made it a duty to dash out national honours to his choice elites
in a manner one would do with his personal property.
In line with
the routine tradition of his predecessors, President Bola Tinubu used the June
12, 2025 Democracy Day to confer over 100 national honours—some of them
posthumously. As expected, many awardees are members of his administration and
personalities very close to him. A section of the awardees list portrays a
belated compensation package to a gang of Abacha victims, who actually need
justice more than honour. While people like Prof. Humphrey Nwosu (CON), Prof.
Wole Soyinka (GCON), Alhaji Balarabe Musa (CFR), Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah
(CON) and Femi Falana, SAN (CON) truly deserve their awards, it would have been
wiser and more balanced to include people like Late Bashir Tofa (Abiola’s NRC opponent),
Late Abubakar Rimi and Magaji Abdullahi (two important SDP figures who miraculously
delivered Kano, Tofa’s State to Abiola) and of course M.D. Yusufu, the presidential
candidate of MDJ who was Abacha’s sole challenger in his bid to
undemocratically transform to a civilian president, among others. Perhaps, they
would be remembered by this or another President in the next set of awards, for
at this rate, every political household name, dead or alive, may soon have a
national honour in Nigeria by 2030.
What exactly
is this national honour and who are those who deserve it? The honouring system
was originally envisioned as a prestigious recognition of exceptional service
to the nation and was formally established by the National Honours Act No. 5 of
1964 to inspire patriotism, reward merit and foster national unity. The
structure of national honours, divided into two orders (Order of the Federal
Republic and Order of the Niger) and eight ranks (GCFR, GCON, CFR, CON, OFR,
OON, MFR, MON), was designed to reflect degrees of national impact. However,
the system’s proliferation and indiscriminate distribution have undermined
these distinctions, often placing true heroes, statesmen and national icons
equal or below some presidential sycophants, political loyalists and
officeholders, regardless of their performance or public standing.
The early
years of Nigeria's national honours system reflected its original purpose.
Recipients such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo
and Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti were honoured for verifiable and transformative
contributions. However, over time, the politicization and personalization of
the awards diminished its integrity, giving way to an annual ritual often
characterised by hundreds of questionable awardees whose contributions to the
nation are neither tangible nor verifiable. In the past 15 years, things have
gotten worse as the selection system itself have been incompetently reduced to
a mechanism marred by political patronage, duplication and credibility crises.
Today, the
integrity of this noble initiative is in serious jeopardy, with widespread skepticism
about its selection process and relevance. Ideally, recipients should be
individuals whose lives exemplify ethical integrity, measurable public impact
and selfless service. However, the current trend favours tenure over
achievement and proximity to power over merit. Politicians under corruption
investigation, individuals with no tangible contributions and business moguls
with opaque wealth have all made their way into the honours roll. Prominent
Nigerians have rejected national honours in protest. Chinua Achebe, Gani
Fawehinmi and Wole Soyinka famously turned down honours in the past, citing
corruption, misgovernance and the lack of transparency in the process. Their
principled refusals sent powerful messages about the need to restore the
credibility of the system. As Achebe aptly put it, ‘a government that fails its
people cannot in good conscience bestow honours’.
Numerous
scandals have exposed the flaws of the system. In 2022, the conferment of
awards to serving ministers during a prolonged ASUU strike and the inclusion of
people accused of corruption represented a new low. Even more embarrassing were
administrative blunders such as conferring posthumous awards to please certain
intersts and duplication of awards to the same person under different titles. Meanwhile,
countless unsung heroes remain ignored. Rural teachers shaping future
generations, healthcare workers battling epidemics without protection and
community leaders mediating conflicts receive no recognition.
Some few
non-elitist Nigerians have been reluctantly recognized by the establishment in
the past. The belated honour to Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh (posthumous OON,
2022), whose sacrifice averted an Ebola catastrophe in August, 2014, only came
after sustained public pressure for about eight years. In August, 2018, then
President Muhammadu Buhari and the United States Embassy honoured the Bauchi
State-born 83-year old Malam Abubakar Abdullahi, a Muslim Imam in a village in
Plateau State. He sheltered and fed 300 Christians for five days to prevent
them from being killed in an uprising. The old man ran from one corner to the
other stopping youths who wanted to break into the mosque to get hold of his
guests. Eventually, they gave up after realizing that the only way to execute
their evil plan was to kill the old man. That was how he saved their lives. I
am not sure whether the man was given any national honour beyond that
presidential acknowledgement.
If we are to
continue like this, I will suggest the renaming of the awards to “Special
Presidential Honours”. The National
Honours Act, last revised in 2004, offers the President near-total discretion,
with little room for public input or institutional checks. With time, it has
been turned to a presidential farewell affair as outgoing Presidents routinely
populate honours lists upon leaving office to payback loyalists. Recent
attempts at reform, such as the proposed National Honours and Merit Award
Commission, represent a step forward but are insufficient on their own. Far-reaching
legislative and administrative reforms are needed to restore the honours’
integrity. This includes public nominations, independent vetting panels, open
selection criteria and mandatory justification of award decisions.
A critical
reform must also introduce public objections and transparency mechanisms, such
as publishing nominee shortlists and designing revocation protocols. Honours
should be rescinded from individuals found guilty of crimes or misconduct
post-conferment. The system should no longer shield disgraced figures or treat
national honours as irrevocable symbols of status regardless of later
behaviour. Furthermore, awards should be capped annually to preserve their
exclusivity. Honouring fewer, more deserving Nigerians will increase the
prestige of the titles and prevent undeserving awards Most importantly, the
honours system must reconnect with the grassroots. By recognising farmers,
nurses, teachers, inventors and humanitarian workers, Nigeria can turn the
system into a true tool of national inspiration.
All these
are by the way as ordinary Nigerians no longer care about leaders honouring
themselves and their cronies. No impoverished Nigerian has the luxury of
waiting to be honoured by someone whose honour is questionable himself. All
Nigerians are asking for is guaranteed security to farm, stable power supply to
produce, quality and affordable education to learn, reliable healthcare to
survive and stable economy to thrive. When they can provide this, they can go
on naming and renaming national monuments after their wives and continue with
the vicious cycle of self-glorification in the name of national honours.
Twitter: @AmirAbdulazeez
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