The Federal Government yesterday said that no winner merited the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) award for 2022.

The Chairman of the Nigeria National Merit Award, Prof Shekarau Yakubu, during a press briefing yesterday in Abuja revealed that of the 32 nomination applications for the NNOM award and after a rigorous process of assessment exercise none was adjourned to have merited the award.

He said NNMA received four nominations from the field of science, nine in Medicine, five in Engineering Technology and 14 in the humanities adding that the nominations went through a rigorous process of assessment exercise but unfortunately none of the nominations met their criteria.

He said this is the second year no winner has emerged under his leadership, he added that the last year when no winner emerge was three years ago in 2019.

Prof Yakubu explained that the Nigerian National Merit Award annually advertises for nominations of candidates for the Nigerian National Order Of Merit Award in four fields of Engineering/Technology, Medicine, Humanities including Arts and Culture, and Sciences.

He added that the nominations go to specialized Committees before recommendations are considered by a committee of chairmen and then the governing board and Mr president for his approval.

The Chairman NNMA also disclosed that NNMA is hosting the Annual Forum of Laureates of the NNOM to deliberate on salient issues of national interest on the 6th-7th of December 2022.

“The forum is expected to be declared open by the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari with the theme: Building Nigeria through National Integration while the Governor of Borno State Professor Babagana Zulum will be the keynote speaker,” he added. (The Guardian)

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