The Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Zaphaniah Jisalo, on Thursday, lamented that despite its 44 years of existence, only 79 Nigerians had been found worthy of being conferred with the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) award.
In view of this, the minister urged the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) to seek out more Nigerians, home and abroad who are doing well and consider them for merit awards.
Jisalo said this on Thursday in Abuja as he rounded off his familiarisation tour of parastatals under the supervision of his ministry with a visit to Nigerian National Merit Award.
Established in 1979 by the Federal Government, the Nigerian National Merit Award was saddled with the responsibility of recognising and rewarding academic and intellectual excellence.
The Nigerian National Order of Merit award is aimed at promoting excellence in fields of endeavours, including sciences, agriculture, fine and applied arts, medicine, engineering, among others.
A press release signed by the Head, Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Anastasia Ogbonna, made available to Tribune Online, informed that Jisalo urged the NNMA to expand its selection to include politicians and even young people who have excelled in different endeavours.
According to the release, while also speaking during the visit, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Ibiene Roberts, noted that the familiarisation visit was to ensure “harmonious coordination of government policies and projects, particularly those that require cooperation between different tiers of government and parastatals”.
She emphasised the need for accountability and transparency in government business, stressing that resources should be held in trust while projects should be worth the value for money spent.
Earlier, the Acting Secretary of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Mercy Moro’a, commended the minister for the visit, saying it was the first of its kind.
She, however, pleaded with the minister to use his wealth of parliamentary experience to help improve the agency’s poor budgetary allocations with a view to enabling it to carry out its mandate as well as be able to maintain the Merit House in Abuja.
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