Abuja – The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, has called on all Nigerians to support the anti- corruption war of the Federal Government.
Lawal made the call the 8th Annual Forum of Laureates of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in Abuja on Tuesday.
The SGF said that this had become necessary “as t is a fight that cannot be fought and won alone, but with the support of every citizen of this country at home and abroad.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SGF was represented at the occasion by the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties in his office, Mrs Obiageli Nwokedi.
Lawal said that President Muhammadu Buhari had already made a promise to all Nigerians that he would fight corruption and this fight had already started.
The SGF said that this was why “the theme chosen for this 8th Forum of the NNOM Laureates is on Corruption, Eradication and the Nigerian Ethical Revolution’ is very germane.
“The idea for the Forum of NNOM laureates started in December 2007.
“The idea for the forum of NNOM was for the country to tap and benefit from the intellectual properties that would be made available at the gathering of these laureates from various fields of endeavour.”[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Lawal said that the forum would help galvanise the human capital development of the country.
He said that the various conclusions previously reached by the Forum had received the attention of the government.
“I want to assure you that this will continue to be so,” the SGF said.
He said that the Act establishing the NNMA “the President of the Federal Republic is responsible for decorating the Awardees during their investiture.
“This goes to show the high regard with which the Government views your gathering.
“I want to assure you that the Federal Government will always create the enabling environment for NNMA to operate.” he said
Lawal said “a number of countries became great purely on the intellectual properties of their citizenry.”
In his address, Prof. Etim Essien, the Chairman, Governing Board of the NNMA commended the president on his stance in fighting corruption.
Essien however stressed the need to take a clue from developed nations in their fight against corruption.
“Most developed countries of the world in their histories have issues of corruption during their developmental phases.
“They were able to minimise them within reasonable period of time through steadfastness and honest implementation of their agreed rules of `change’, ‘’ he said.
In his address Amb. Maitama Sule, former Minister of Petroleum, called on President Buhari to establish a Ministry of National Guidance to help the nation to fight corruption.
He said that Nigeria needed to take its place in the committee of nations by ensuring that corruption was completely eradicated.
NAN recalls that NNMA was established in 1979 and amended by an Act of 1992 as an institution that gives order of dignity to deserving citizens for outstanding intellectual and academic attainments.
Since the inception of the institution, 71 Nigerians have been conferred with the award. (NAN)