Only two Nigerians would be conferred with the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) this year, the Chairman Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) Prof. Etim Moses Essien has said.
He told reporters on Thursday in Abuja that the award which is a separate Order of Dignity is in four categories of science, medicine, engineering/technology; and humanities including arts and culture.
He said the two recipients Prof. Sadik A. Omowunmi and Prof. Tanure Ojaide won in science and humanities respectively bringing the total of awardees to 73.
While Omowunmi A. Sadik is a Professor of Bioanalytical and Environmental Chemistry and inventor working at the Binghamton University New York United States, Prof. Tanure Ojaide is a prolific poet and writer. Both are multiple international award winners.
While 71 recipients were awarded since 1979 when it was instituted, there was no award in 2015 due to the non-constitution of the governing board of the NNMA by the federal government.
“One of the unacceptable activities of various Nigerian scholars had been the tendency to concentrate their researches on problems and issues that might not have been relevant to the needs and aspirations of the country, except mainly those of a political nature and whose essential criteria and consideration were politically driven.
“As prescribed in the law governing the NNMA, the investiture will be performed by President Muhammadu Buhari next Thursday 1st December 2016, as the first Thursday of every December is stipulated for the investiture, at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa at Mr. President’s pleasure,” Essien said.
He said that each recipient would be given N10m each apart from other paraphernalia of the award and that recipients after their investiture can append NNOM after their names.
He said the names of the awardees were submitted to the President on September 1 as stipulated by law after the painstaking process of the assessment committee who recommended the recipients.
He said that this year’s NNOM Laurette forum themed “Mono-Economy, Diversification, Exchange Rate Stability and the Development of the Nigerian Nation” would hold next Tuesday and would be followed by the NNOM Laurette Award Winners’ Lecture instituted in 2007.
The lecture would be delivered by a 2013 Laurette Prof. Hilary Inyang Inyang titled “Configuration of Policy and Technical System for Improvement of Nigeria’s Environmental Security”
Credit: dailytrust
