… And they are all honoured women of 2010

Patricia Olubunmi Etteh She omes top as she is nominated for the award of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) honour. Born on August 17, 1953, she is married with two children. She is a hairdresser and beauty therapist by training and has a diploma in law from the University of Abuja. Etteh represents […]

Patricia Olubunmi Etteh

She omes top as she is nominated for the award of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) honour. Born on August 17, 1953, she is married with two children. She is a hairdresser and beauty therapist by training and has a diploma in law from the University of Abuja.

Etteh represents the Ayedaade/Isokan/Irewole constituency of Osun State. She was elected on  the Alliance for Democracy (AD)platform in 1999, but decamped to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) when she sought re-election in 2003. She was elected  Speaker in June 2007, and is the only woman to have held this position in the Nigerian government. But barely three months as the Speaker,  she was accused of authorising the spending of N628 million (about US$5 million) for the renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, and the purchase of 12 official cars meant for the House of Representatives. On October 30, following weeks of pressure, Etteh resigned her position as speaker. Her deputy, Babangida Nguroje, also resigned.

Though Etteh was not tried and convicted of these allegations, many Nigerians would want to know why she deserves such an honour. Technically, and perhaps politically, as a former Speaker, she is qualified to be so honoured, but on moral grounds, the federal government may just be ridiculing itself. Another issue that would raise questions on Etteh’s nomination for the honour of CFR is the fact that a former speaker of the same House of Representatives in the Second Republic, Chief Benjamin Akaai Chaha, has been nominated for Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), an honour inferior to that of Etteh.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

For somebody who ranked 62nd on the Forbes Most Important Women in 2006, Okonjo-Iweala’s honour of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), maybe belated.  Prior to her ministerial appointment in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank . She was appointed into President Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet as Finance Minister on July 15, 2003 and she was widely acclaimed for striking a deal with the Paris Club that ensured Nigeria’s external debt, which was about $18 billion, was written off.

Another feat Okonjo-Iweala achieved was the publishing of each state’s monthly financial allocations from the federal government in the newspapers. She was instrumental in helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from Fitch and Standard & Poor’s.

She was, however, enmeshed in a controversy that she was paid in a foreign currency and much higher than her colleagues. She as well as her  Foreign Affairs counterpart, Olu Adeniji, were paid in dollars, about US$240,000, compared with $6,000 other ministers were paid. The controversy raged for sometime, although Okonjo-Iweala felt that her critics were unjustified because of the temporary nature of the payment, which came out of the donor supported Diaspora Fund negotiated by the Nigerian government.

On July 20, 2007, the Court of Appeal ruled that the salary payment was not done according to Nigerian laws and directed her and Adeniji to pay back the excess to the account of the state.

She was later moved to the Foreign Affairs Ministry but she resigned on August 3, 2006 following her sudden removal as head of Nigeria’s Economic Intelligence team by President Olusegun Obasanjo. On October 4, 2007, World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, appointed her to the post of Managing Director, effective  1st  December, 2007.

Justice Fati Abubakar

Justice Abubakar was the First Lady of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999 and she basks in her husband’s fame, General Abdulsalami Abubakar who ended over 30 years of military rule in Nigeria.

The former First Lady is, however, able to carve a niche for herself as her Women Rights Advancement Protection Alternative (WRAPA) was not promoted to a quasi-government agency and still works as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). Unlike other first ladies, she has always been a career woman and the powerful but unconstitutional office of the First Lady could not tempt her to make her life redundant. Many analysts would wonder why a trail blazer like Abubakar would be honoured with Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) while others with less impact would be given a higher honour. Justice Abubakar is currently a High Court Judge in Niger State.

Farida Mzamber Waziri

Succeeding Nuhu Ribadu at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)meant that Waziri would always be judged against the acclaimed achievements of Ribadu at the commission. It is no doubt then that she has so many critics and it would be a surprise to them that she is to be honoured with the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) award.

She enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force in 1965 and rose to the position of Assistant Inspector General of Police. She held many positions in the police but the last position she held, Commissioner of Police in charge of X-Squad, meant she was responsible for handling cases of bribery and corruption within the police force. She also served as Commissioner of Police (Special Fraud Unit) in which role she recorded the first conviction for Advance Fee Fraud in Nigeria.

She led the West African delegation on Advance Fee Fraud to Lyons, France in 1996 and a Nigerian delegation to Dallas, Texas, for a seminar organized by the United States Secret Service in 1998.

Since she became the chairman of EFCC in May 2008, Waziri has been widely criticized for not prosecuting the war against corruption with vigour. In spite of the criticisms, she has secured many high profile convictions.

Oluremi Tinubu

Mrs Tinubu who was the former First Lady of Lagos State is the president of the New Era Foundation and will be conferred with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). Her pet project was widely acclaimed as making real impact on the lives of Lagosians. Interestingly, she is the only wife of a former governor or a serving governor to be honoured in this year’s national honours award. This may be as a result of the influence of her husband who is undoubtedly the leader of theAction Congress (AC).