Nigeria on Tuesday honoured Wole Soyinka for his achievements in the humanities, 22 years after the playwright also known as Kongi received the Nobel Prize for Literature. President Umaru Yar'Adua gave him the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) alongside Chukwuemeka Ike, another writer, and Oyewusi Gureje, who was honoured in the field of medicine.
Soyinka, a dramatist, essayist, poet, and author, is one of Africa's most decorated intellectuals and the first African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Ike is also a novelist, poet, author, and an intellectual, as well as a reputed university Administrator.
Gureje is a Professor of psychiatry with international acclaim as an authority on schizophrenia, alzheimer's disease and substance abuse.
Their citations said they were given the awards for unwavering diligence, steadfast commitment, and the pursuit of excellence.
Both Chukwuemeka and Gureje received theirs in person. Soyinka, who was said to be out of the country, was represented by two of his children.
A total 54 people have now got the NNMA since it was established in 1979.
"It is my hope that this national recognition will further inspire our distinguished awardees to even greater commitment to the national cause as they partner with us in our committed quest for Nigeria's transformation into a strong, stable, secure, just, and prosperous nation," Yar'Adua told the latest recipients.
NNMA Board Chairman, Oluwafeyisola Adegoke, implored the government to extend its initiative for a positive change in the national attitude to the key ingredients for industrial growth.
"With the crop of talented and highly gifted Nigerians presented to you today, I have no doubt that the Presidential initiative and impetus which you are about to give to the restoration of the national research and development effort in science, technology, engineering, medicine and humanity will soon begin to yield good fruits," he stated.
Yar'Adua also reconstituted the Presidential Committee to review the report of the Technical Committee on the restructuring of ministries.
Interior Minister, Godwin Abe, chairs the new panel, which also has as members Minister of State for Finance and Supervising Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Remi Babalola; federal Attorney General and Justice Minister, Michael Aondoakaa; and Agriculture Minister, Abba Ruma.
Another member is Permanent Secretary in The Presidency, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who headed the Technical Committee on the Implementation of the Federal Executive Council decisions on the restructuring of ministries.
A letter Yar'Adua wrote to all members of the new Committee directed them to conclude the review and report back to him in two weeks.
He said the review arose from the need to streamline and strengthen the mechanism for service delivery without sacrificing the objectives of the Public Service Reforms of the last administration.
The restructuring seeks to quicken and effectively co-ordinate the implementation of Yar'Adua's seven-point agenda.
DAILY INDEPENDENT
By Rotimi Durojaiye (Lagos) and Chesa Chesa (Abuja)
DEC-17-2008
