This year’s National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) award has come and gone, but its memory lingers, given the caliber of persons who got the awards. The awards, the 18th in the series, were given to 26 individuals and seven organisations on November 28 in Abuja, to mark this year’s National Productivity Day. The NPOM Award was instituted by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The letter to the recipients, signed by Minister for Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, reads in part, “The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the conferment of the National Productivity Order of Merit Award on you in recognition of your high productivity, hard work and excellence. Your recommendation was based on the report of the National Productivity Order of Merit Award Committee after a rigorous selection process.”
We cannot agree more; the selection process was indeed rigorous: Aliko Dangote, chairman, Dangote Group; Tony Elumelu, chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA), both philanthropists of note; Prof Is’hak Oloyede, registrar and chief executive, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB); Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof Olanrewaju Adigun Fagbohun; Oba Otudeko, group chairman of Honeywell Group; Nigerian Customs Service Comptroller-General Hameed Alli; chairman, Channels Media Group, John Momoh, as well as chairman, Editorial Board, The Nation, Sam Omatseye, among others.
It is about the first in a long time when the selections are not only justified in the eyes of those who made them but also in the eyes of the public as well.
Dangote has become a household name in Nigeria due to his pervasive influence in the manufacturing sector. He is virtually into the production of almost every household item, from salt to sugar, noodles, rice, cement, haulage, etc. His refinery, Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest oil refinery, is expected to take off sometime next year.
Oloyede on his part has revolutionised the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in the last three years that he has been in the saddle. Leveraging on information technology, he has drastically reduced examination fraud in JAMB, reduced the tendency for corruption and is thus able to pay into government coffers at least N7billion yearly in the last three years, the first of its kind since the establishment of the organisation over 40 years ago. Otudeko’s Honeywell Group is a conglomerate based in Nigeria which operates in diversified businesses such as foods and agriculture, telecommunication and infrastructure, real estate and financial services.
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Momoh’s Channels Television is a leading television station in the country and has won several media awards since inception. We can go on and on.
We must reward productivity to encourage the recipients not to rest on their oars as well as propel others to strive for greater heights in their respective endeavours. According to Ngige: ‘“No nation can enhance the quality of life of its citizenry as well as be self-reliant and competitive in the international market without productivity improvement in all sectors of its economy. Productivity is indeed the most important determinant of socio-economic growth, wealth creation, employment generation and overall improved standard of living.”
We congratulate the recipients of the award. We also commend the National Productivity Order of Merit Award Committee for a job well done. We hope the recipients would continue to justify their selection by the committee by doing even more. It is our hope that the committee too would continue to improve on the criteria for selection for such awards. Our nation will be the better for it when we continue to give honour to those that are found worthy.
As Oloyede noted, he is one of those who had benefited from the nation, so, the least he can do is to continue to give something in return. Many of the awardees too must have had some good time courtesy of the country. So, they too must not hesitate to give something in return.
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