Brief History of the National Honours Award

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF SPECIAL DUTIES AND INTER-GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

The National Honours was established by the National Honours Act CAP N43 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. The act empowers the President to establish by Warrant the Nigeria Order dignity to honour deserving citizens who have contributed to the development and progress of the country as well as to any human field of endeavours which takes effect from 1st October, 1963.

The Honours warrant of 1964, as it is, established two categories of the Nigerian Order of Dignity eachh with four ranks of the Order as follows:

a. Order of the Federal Republic
i. Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR)
ii. Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR)
iii. Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR)
iv. Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR)
b. Order of the Niger
i. Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON)
ii. Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON)
iii. Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON)
iv. Member of the Order of the Niger (MON)

In addition, the Warrant also provides for two classes of Federal Republic Medals as follows:

i. Federal Republic Medal – First Class
ii. Federal Republic Medal – Second Class

Following the Honours (Amendment) Warrant of 1979, the statutory limitation of the number of awards to the ranks was stipulated as follows:

1. GCFR – 2 GCON – 10
2. CFR – 20 CON – 30
3. OFR – 50 OON – 100
4. MFR – 100 MON – 100

Total – 172 – 240
Grand Total 412

The National Honours was rescheduled by Christopher Kolade Panel in 1996 which recommended that the composition of the committee should come from the six Geo-political zones of the country in order to have equal representation and a member from Organised Private Sectors (OPS). The committee also have some critical representation from MDAs who are very relevant to the selection of nominees