Criticism trails Buhari's national awardees list

Sunday's announcement of the names of people receiving national honors from President Major General Muhammadu Buhari was met with criticism (retd.).

At the Nigerian National Honours Awards 2022 scheduled for October 11 at the State House, Abuja, the President is expected to honor 437 people, including seven foreigners.

However, the list of nominees, which has already become widely popular on the Internet, has drawn criticism, particularly over the caliber of those nominated for the honors.

Speaking to The PUNCH on Sunday, civil society organizations criticized the overwhelming representation of politicians among the nominations, claiming that more Nigerians were deserving of the honors.
Politicians, government employees, businesspeople, academics, security personnel, prominent attorneys, traditional and religious leaders, as well as deceased individuals, are among the recipients.

Speaking on the nominations, Samson Itodo, the president of the YIAGA Foundation, said, "The President has the right to confer national awards on Nigerians, or individuals who have distinguished themselves while also contributing to national progress.
“Those given these awards, ideally, should be icons that people see and revere and want to emulate those qualities that they have. But if you give these awards to people who, morally, don’t have the capital to hold those awards, Nigerians would not recognise or take those seriously.”

Itodo asserts that Buhari, along with those nominated, wasted the chance to demonstrate impartiality and nonpartisanship, foster unity, and demonstrate leadership as the nation's father who was concerned about the advancement of all parts of the nation.

Dare-Ariyo Atoye, the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution's convener, added that there had to be criteria for selecting the recipients.

Dare-Ariyo criticised the omission of former Senate President Bukola Saraki off the list of honorees.

References

[1] Punchng, 'Knocks as Buhari’s men, others get national awards' (online, <year>) <https://punchng.com/knocks-as-buharis-men-others-get-national-awards/>.