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Every nation needs
people who think in order to grow and the first place to look for them
is in the academia, President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday in Abuja.

The president who
was speaking at the Nigerian National Merit Award ceremony at the
presidential villa, enjoined Nigerian youth to dedicate themselves to
excellence and strive to make Nigeria one of the leading nations of the
world.

The awardees include Aderemi Oluyomi Kuku for the Sciences; Ladipo Ayo Banjo and Mabel Dorothy Segun for the Humanities.

The 2009 Merit
Award, which is the 24th in the series which started since 1979, is
coming one year late. The President said this was due to the
circumstances that the nation found itself at the time.

Speaking on the need
for men of knowledge, he said, “We have a number of professors, at
least amongst our cabinet we have about six professors – the head of the
civil service and three special advisers. We have nothing less than 10
eggheads with us.

“This is the highest
and most prestigious award bestowed by our nation on Nigerian citizens
at home and in the daispora for creative intellectual and academic
contributions that have national as well as global significance. This
ceremony is holding one year behind schedule due to the circumstances
the nation found itself at the originally appointed time.” Speaking on
the integrity of the award, the president noted that only few Nigerians
have received the award since its inception in 1979.

“Only 60 Nigerians
have been honoured with the award, this is a clear evidence that of the
high standard and quality of the merit driven evaluation procedure used
in selecting the winners of the award,” he said. “It also underscores
the high expectation of the nation that the new recipients of the award
by their predecessors that hold the banner of creativity and
intellectual attainment high at all times will be beacons of hope and
role models for the younger generation of Nigerians”.

Mr. Jonathan further
noted that the NNMA also serves as a reminder that our survival and
collective vision as a nation and as a people rest with the contribution
we make to the national and global development effort in science,
technology, Economics, Arts and other fields.

Congratulating the
awardees, he noted that the three recipients of the 2009 award are among
the best in the world in their fields.

He therefore
enjoined the youth to emulate their good work and “hereby dedicate
themselves to excellence and strive to contribute their quota to the
arduous task of getting Nigeria on the track of becoming one of the
leading nations of the world”.

Working on 2010 awards

Four specialised
committees of assessors drawn from universities and the private sector,
totalling 38 were set up to screen the participants.

The minister of
special duties, Taoheed Adedoja noted that following the delay in
awarding the 2009 awards, the 2010 assessment exercise as well as the
Annual Forum of Laureates could not take place this year due to the late
reconstitution of the governing board of the NNMA, the body legally
charged with the responsibility of processing and approval of the award.

He noted that the
board however hopes “that all applications received for the 2010 award
will be assessed along with those of 2011”.

He also disclosed that the cash price for award was increased from N1 million to N5 million by the present administration.

The chairman of the
NNMA governing board, Oluwafeyisola Adegoke, said the three awardees
passed through rigorous screening and were found qualified to be
presented for the conferment of the award.

He added that the nation is blessed to have such a crop of Nigerians.

The NNMA, which was established by Act no. 53 of 1979 under the
military administration of Olusegun Obasanjo, entitles a recipient to
use the designation Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) after his or
her name, as well as receive a stipulated cash price, a certificate and
a medal and enjoy other benefits.