A total of 437 names have been listed by the federal government to receive national honours.
The awards will be presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 11 at an event scheduled to hold at the State House, Abuja.
The list, which was released on Sunday October 9, came a few days after the Federal government debunked a nomination list that was circulating on social media as not its official list.
The controversial list included some of Buhari’s ministers, serving senators, incumbent governors, and traditional leaders.
The ‘debunked’ list steered mixed reactions on social media as many Nigerians tagged the development as “an award of failure, incompetence and corruption.”
Some of the people who were questioned by Nigerians on social media are the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu, Senate President Lawal Ahmed, Minister of Information Lai Muhammad, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General Abubakar Malami.
As it eventually turned out, the official list the government released is not different from that circulating on social media.
The list contained the same number of names as the official list released yesterday by the Special Assistant on Digital Communications to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Like the rumoured list, the official release consists of presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Ishaq Oloyede, and Nigerian literary writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Out of the 437 nominees, five persons will be conferred with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). The persons are Senate President Ibrahim Lawan, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) Olukayode Ariwoola, former CJN Tanko Muhammad, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Amina J. Muhammed.
There are 54 nominees for the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), 67 for the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), 64 for Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), 101 for Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), 75 for Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR), 56 for Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) and eight for the Federal Republic Medal (FRM).
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M