President Goodluck Jonathan was battling to justify his conferment of the second highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on Alhaji Aliko Dangote. The presidential explanation came in the wake of criticisms to the effect that such exalted medal is reserved exclusively for the vice president, Senate president or any eminent public office holder. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no such ‘creed’ making the GCON the exclusive preserve of certain office holders. Since 1964 when the National Honours Act made national honours a nationally recognised reward instrument, over half a century Nigerians who were neither vice presidents nor presidents of the Senate had been honoured with the GCON medal.
It was not therefore out of place for the president to honour Dangote with such exalted diadem. If anything, it was good he did. The argument ought to have been whether we should continue to honour more public office holders than those who have excelled in the private sector. Again, should we continue to hold the national honours ceremony annually or should we re-work the Act to make it biennially or once in four years?
And this is the context in which this year’s National Honours list is a cut above the ones of the previous years: its heavy content of private sector icons including members of the sports and Nollywood enterprise.
In fact, the problem with national honour is the perception that it was nothing but a cheap reward system for indolent and often incompetent public office holders. Non-recognition of private sector whizkids and geniuses has over time robbed the ceremony of its lustre. All over the world, the common denominator among advanced nations is the useful synergy that exists between the government and the private sector. No responsible government in the Western world would ignore its private sector. Indeed, the trend is for major players in the private sector to be treated as special citizens; with utmost courtesy, care and comfort. At all times, the government seeks their opinion on major socio-economic issues.
The reason is simple. It is these private sector maestros that create jobs and have the capacity to create more. In some cases, governments make commitment to these companies just to keep them going. When Bill Clinton was president of the United States and the fortunes of US aircraft manufacturers, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing were going down, it took the marketing skills of Clinton to convince the Saudi government to place orders for more aircraft in a deal worth $6 billion. That was in August 1993. Clinton as president had no stake in Boeing or Mc Donnell Douglas, he was only trying to keep those companies afloat just so their employees can keep their jobs and for more hands to be employed. It is called presidential encouragement (patronage).
In February this year when President Barack Obama was going all grey because of the dire job situation in the US , it was to the private sector icons that he looked. In a bid to sell his ‘win the future’ proposal, he met with the top cats of the Silicon Valley over dinner. But the meeting did not hold in the White House. Yes, the dinner held in the palatial home of John Doerr, a partner at the major Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. There were 12 Silicon Valley CEOs in the room including Mark Zukerberg of Facebook, the late Steve Jobs of Apple, Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison, Reed Hasting of Netfix and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.
Obama wants to ‘win the future’ for America . He wants to drape America with high-speed wireless internet. In fact, he wants America to out-innovate the rest of the world through very ambitious funding of research and development all of which will translate to job creation. He could have invited the Silicon Valley magnates to the White House but never, he went ‘chasing’ after them. He wanted to honour them because they count. This happens in the West every time. Responsible governments work hard to protect private sector icons. They treasure them, honour them and never cease to let them know they are highly appreciated.
This is the context the honour conferred on Dangote and other private sector recipients, particularly the entrepreneurs, should be seen as well thought out. Nigeria is perennially classified as one of the most difficult countries to do business. For someone to have grown a business from a mere start-up to a conglomerate employing over 12,000 workers and creating unquantifiable economies of scale on the same turf deserves both adulation and national recognition.
The president was spot on when he said “those who by their innate abilities and creative energies have been able to make impact in our society even deserve more honour than those of us holding political offices. So, we would continue to encourage enterprise, creativity and Nigerians who have excelled in whatever form”. This should be the spirit. National honours should be for those who used their creative abilities, talent and skill to better the lot of humanity and not necessarily for those who by virtue of the public office they hold, are presumed to be working for the good of society. Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and David Beckham were not honoured by the Queen of England because they functioned in 10 Downing Street or the House of Lords. They were honoured because they deployed their skills and creative energies in soccer artistry and management for the good of English football.
The Nigerian award should be such that rewards more Dangotes, Tony Elumelus, Leo Stan Ekehs, Jim Ovias, outstanding academicians, writers, scientists and artisans. It is for men and women of rare heroics. And why, for instance, have we not honoured teenage brave-heart Detimbir Chia? Chia was the 14-year-old lad who in 2006 rallied his friends and community to rescue survivors of a military plane that crashed on Ngokugh Hill in Benue State . Chia, now 19, a first hand witness of the crash, did not only report the incident to his community folk, he was one of the five boys who climbed the hill to rescue the survivors. Such heroic deserves a national garland.
As for Dangote, it was a damn good thing that the president honoured a Nigerian whose business acumen has thrust him as a veritable test case for the best Business schools. It was good we honoured our own who is today the richest black man (worth over $13.8 billion according to Forbes) on earth before others do it for us. My take: Dangote deserves his trophy.
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