LamikayTy

I would not recommend buying newspapers at this time of the year unless you are looking for extra paper to place yams on to cut or you just need some waste paper.
Every available space is taken up with congratulatory messages to the years awardees who are being conferred with all sorts of titles by the President.

This years is no different from the last, our awards (aren’t they Nigerian?) go to people (as Reuben Abati said in his editorial today) for services rendered, not rendered, about to be rendered, or which may never be rendered to the Nigerian state.
The list according to ‘lamikayty’ is too full of political appointees for them to be truly deserving of the ‘honors’ being conferred on them. There is so much sycophancy in a nation that needs people who are not afraid to speak up and tell things as they are and are not afraid of loosing friends (All hail Hon. Aliyu!).

 

There are hundreds and thousands of honest, hard working Nigerians who have done a lot more than the yearly round up of individuals whose only claim to the award is their proximity to the seat of power.

 

Laws should be promulgated that prevent serving officers from being beneficiaries of these awards. I would advocate that the yearly nominations by states should be scrapped giving way for nominations from all over the nation and indeed the world.

A standard set of criteria should be set which are not inflexible but detailed and yet clear enough for the whole world to realise when and if any recipient does not meet the standard.
Meanwhile, the emphasis should be shifted from those already in the spot light. Those who are quietly but certainly making an impact in their corners. This is imperative because there are too many who sacrifice almost everything and get nothing in return from this nation.

 

My posting to Sabon Birni, Sokoto state for my primary assignment with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) brought me face to face with old teachers. They were primary school teachers who were employed immediately after independence with the then ‘Teachers Board*’ and had been posted to SB in their prime.
Now they were old and dirt poor. They had simply nothing to show for their sojourn from their homes of ‘comfort’ to this land. They still taught as they had done all their lives. A number of their colleagues had already died with nothing.

 

In this same village is a doctor from Ekiti state who had stayed on after his posting and had settled down, building the only ‘private’ clinic in this village. This was the only medical facility for kilometers around (apart from the government health centre which relies on Youth Corper doctors and is not equipped) and his is a calling which he has answered faithfully. Of course in the current scheme of things the Sokoto State government would never nominate him for any awards, being a Southerner and when there are so many ‘big’ men jostling for the awards neither would his own Ekiti state government- his work is too far away to matter to them.

These are the people who need to be recognised, encouraged and honored. It is no surprise however that they are forgotten. Jesus said, “that which is highly respected among men is an abomination in the sight of God”.

I also think the converse is also be true!