Secretary to the Government, Chief Pius Anyim File copy

The Federal Government has yet to give medals and certificates to some Nigerians and foreigners who were bestowed with national honours in Abuja on November 14, investigation has revealed.

Our correspondents learnt that the government had failed to honour its promise that the awardees would receive their certificates and medals a week after the event, as promised by the Secretary to the Government, Chief Pius Anyim.

President Goodluck Jonathan had conferred the various classes of national honours on 355 Nigerians amidst tight security.

But as a result of the shortage, many of the honourees were unable to get their medals and certificates as was the tradition.

Anyim had blamed it on the large number of recipients in the 2011 awards ceremony.

He also promised those who could not receive their medals and certificates that they would have the materials “in the next one week.”

However, a month after the promise, the awardees were still expecting the government to fulfill its promise.

But a source close to the SGF office attributed the shortage of the medals to the inclusion of associates of some people close to the government on the list.

The source said medals brought to the venue were meant for those on the original list before “interference” from “high quarters”.

He said there was no way the medals would not have been enough because “the event was planned ahead and we knew the number of the people to be given the awards.

“So, when different kinds of people were bringing their friends, in-laws, partners, and even girlfriends, that was when we started having problems with the medals and certificates.

However, some of the awardees, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, wondered why the government would give them awards without a certificates and medals.

Among those that were not given medals on that day were former Governors Saidu Bada (Katsina), Rufus Ada George (Rivers), Clement Ebri (Cross River). Others include Chief Jim Ovia, Chief Ikide Arumeni.

The Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, was lucky as he received a certificate.

He and others have been waiting for their medals since then.

Anyim’s Special Assistant, Mr. Sam Nwaobasi told one of our correspondents on the telephone that he was not aware there was a shortage of medals and certificates during the ceremony.

He, however, called back to say he would confirm whether the report was true or not.

He said, “I am not aware of that.” Later, he called to say “I will need to get to office and find out what really happened. You know that today is Sunday.”

-Punch

Posted by admin on Dec 11 2011. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry