Jonathan: Why Nigeria is not at ease

President Goodluck Jonathan says Nigeria is not at ease because she has neglected her ennobling traditional value system. Jonathan said this in Abuja today after conferring the 2013/2014 National Honours Award on 313 Nigerians. “I believe one of the reasons our society is not at ease is because we’ve neglected our ennobling traditional value system. […]

President Goodluck Jonathan says Nigeria is not at ease because she has neglected her ennobling traditional value system.

Jonathan said this in Abuja today after conferring the 2013/2014 National Honours Award on 313 Nigerians.

“I believe one of the reasons our society is not at ease is because we’ve neglected our ennobling traditional value system. There was a time in our country that when you were honoured with traditional or religious titles in any community, you were deemed to personify the highest ethos of that community.

“It was a period when a teacher was the hallmark of the most honourable values in a settlement. The bank manager in any community was a man of high probity in whose care people trusted their money and were rest assured. It was a period when people kept quiet and walked gently when they approached a place of worship for the fear of God in their heart, not now that people throw explosives in places of worship”, he said. 

The president said the country must get back those time-honoured values that shaped her for good so that Nigerians could live right.

 According to him, that is what the national honour, in its truest essence, seeks to do by identifying and celebrating men and women whose lives depict the very essence of societal existence.

“A nation is void and soulless if she doesn’t have those sacred values it holds dear and individuals who project them. It’s in such men and women that you find the authentic inheritance of the generations and their nurturing. That’s why a nation is poor that is not rich in people who carry noble values that are transferred from generation to generation

“No great nation will toy with honours that constitute her trans-generational character code. This was why I insisted last year that our National Honour must never be seen as a piece of paper or garland round the neck which individuals not worthy of honour can pick up and continue to project wrong values that diminish our heritage”, he said .

Jonathan said national honourees must always be sincere men and women who pointed society in the right direction and mirrored the possibilities of unlimited greatness.

He said he had directed the National Honours Committee to always cast their net wide to ensure that all strata of the society where honourable Nigerians were excelling should be brought into the honours’ fold.

He urged all Nigerians to actively participate in the nomination process so that the worthy get their recognition, saying “For only the nominated can stand the chance of being honoured by our great country”.

“I am happy to note that going through this year’s list of honourees, there is a broader and more salutary spectrum. This demonstrates clearly that our nation is rich in men; rich in women; rich in youth; rich in the professions! Indeed, we’ve many individuals who stand out in service accomplishment and dedication in their fields of endeavour”, he added.