VP Osinbajo Represents President Buhari At The Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) Dinner On 08/02/2022

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SPEECH DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE SPECIAL DINNER IN HONOUR OF RECIPIENTS OF 2020/2021 NIGERIAN NATIONAL ORDER OF MERIT AWARD ON TUESDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2022 AT TRANSCORP HILTON HOTEL

PROTOCOLS

I am honoured to join you this evening at this special dinner event to celebrate three distinguished Nigerians who earlier today were conferred the prestigious National Order of Merit award by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari.

But here this evening we are honoured also by the company of some past National merit award laureates.

*PROFESSOR AUGUSTINE M.O. ESOGBUE, NNOM (2006 AWARD RECIPIENT IN ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY);

* PROFESSOR OYE GUREJE, NNOM (2008 NNOM RECIPIENT IN MEDICINE),
&
* PROFESSOR SAMUEL CHUKWUNONYEREM OHAEGBULAM, NNOM (2012 NNOM AWARD RECIPIENT IN MEDICINE) and is currently also one of the board members, of our governing board of the NNMA.

I am delighted to observe that since this Award was instituted in 1979, we now have 79 distinguished Nigerians who are Laureates of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM).

This evening we celebrate the three latest laureates –
*Prof. Olayinka O Olutoye, who is honoured for his unique contributions to the field of fetal surgery;
*Prof. Godwin Samuel Ekhaguere for pioneering new approaches in the branch of Mathematical Physics known as Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory
and
*Prof. Charles Ejike Chidume for his outstanding contributions in Mathematics, Physics and Engineering. Professor Chidume’s award is posthumous as he sadly passed on before the conferment. May his memory always be blessed.

The contributions of our new laureates have had a real-world impact in their respective fields. Professor Chidume’s work has generated practical applications in understanding how System Thinking is used in Project Management, Logistics and Modeling. It also addresses a wide range of problems in economics, finance, image reconstruction, ecology, transportation, network elasticity and optimization.

Professor Olutoye is a fetal and pediatric surgeon who led a team of surgeons in 2016, in a feat that has been hailed as the first of its kind, to perform a surgical procedure on a fetus with a tumour that developed before birth and grew from a baby’s tailbone.

The procedure involved bringing the fetus out of the mother’s womb, removing the tumor during a 5-hour operation, and placing the fetus back in the mother’s womb and the mother then carried the baby to a full term. His work on fetal anatomy including the healing wounds in fetuses is broadening understanding of how we can address wounds even in adults.

Professor Ekhaguere’s work has deepened the understanding of the fundamental architecture of the universe and the fabric of reality itself. In addition to this, he has provided strong leadership for efforts to build research capacity in Mathematical Sciences in Nigeria

These are probably just cursory simplifications of the significance of our Awardees’ achievements. What is indisputable is that each of them has broadened the horizons of knowledge in their respective fields of endeavour.

But two things stand out in these particular awards especially when we refer to these high achieving Nigerians.

The first is that this is one of those occasions where we gather to celebrate people not on account of their wealth, power or status, but on account of their real achievements, their achievements that make a difference in the lives of so many not only here but in other parts of the world.

At the heart of the rationale for these Awards is the idea that a nation perpetuates the sort of behaviour that it rewards. Promoting the growth of innovation, diligence, productivity and related values requires that the practitioners and exemplars of such values are adequately rewarded and celebrated. This is what the Merit Awards are all about. They are all about celebrating what we want to attract to this nation, celebrating what we want to enthrone in this nation which is excellence, innovation and hard work.

Second is that, in reflecting upon the glittering cast of Nigerians that have received this award over the years, I have been struck by at least one thing, and that is the variety of achievements but also by their diversity of origins of those who have earned these awards. The Award selection process is entirely indifferent to the confessional persuasions, ethnic origins or partisan allegiances of the recipients. It is sensitive only to the quality of their accomplishments.

Often in our national discourse, we tend to juxtapose the idea of merit with that of representation as though they are mutually exclusive and it is suggested that there is an inherently natural disparity in the geographical distribution of talent. But that is not so. What these distinguished arrays of laureates from all over our country that have been assembled over the years show us is that the Nigerian genius for achievement can be found in every corner of our country.

Two imperatives immediately spring forth from such a realization. The first is that we must ensure that we provide opportunities on a mass scale to enable all of our citizens actualize their highest potential. And in this effort, we must pay more attention in particular to the education of girls, because this is the half of our population that has been neglected especially with respect to education. In so doing, we will renew our pantheon of world-beating achievers in every generation and continually rediscover the human capital for perpetual national growth.

Secondly, I am reminded of one of the past Order of Merit laureates, Professor Chinua Achebe, who admonished us to always pick our first eleven for national tasks, our best eleven. In his words, “whenever merit is set aside by prejudice of whatever origin, individual citizens, as well as the nation itself, are victimized.” If the pantheon of Order of Merit laureates reflects a representative meritocracy, is it not possible to apply the same standards in selecting those that we choose for leadership at all levels?

Democracy grants us not just the right to freely choose our leaders but the opportunity to choose the best of us irrespective of any sectional or sectarian considerations.

So, today’s awardees and their predecessors represent the zenith of accomplishment; their exploits tell us what we are truly capable of as a people of the greatest heights, greatest achievements in the fields of science, the arts and every other aspect of the human endeavor, and that we would soar as high as we wish so long as we do not subject ourselves to the gravitational pull of parochialism and prejudice.

If we are truly able to make these standards that we see today, the accomplishments that we see today, mainstream in our society and in the ways that we define our national traits, then we must apply the same principles that informed their selection in recruiting those who will represent this nation in every endeavour, whether it is in sports, or the public service.

Let me once again congratulate all the laureates of the NNMA and their families, the Chairman and members of Governing Board of the NNMA and indeed all associates of the NNMA. We wish you safe travels as you return to your homes.

Thank you.