As part of the celebratory activities to mark Nigeria’s 54th Independence anniversary, the 2014 National Honours Awards ceremony held yesterday at the International Conference Center, Abuja.
A total of 313 people were conferred the awards for their outstanding contributions to society, ChannelsTv reports.
Recipients of the award include Nollywood stars, Joke Silva and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Taiwo Akinkunmi, the 77-year-old designer of the national flag; Solomon Dauda, an Abuja traffic warden; Onuh Isaac Michael, the Chief Steward of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, who served nine Presidents and Heads of State, and many more individuals in the fields of politics, security issues, sports, entertainment, business and the corporate world.
Ekeinde and Silva were both given the MON (Member of the order of the Niger) award.
Dauda and Michael each received a three-bedroom flat, in addition to their MON (Member of the Order of the Niger) awards.
One of the highlights from the event was when Imeh Usuah, a taxi driver, who returned N18 million that a foreigner left in his cab in 2007, received the MFR award (Member of the Order of Federal Republic), and was also given a three-bedroom flat in Abuja, The Citizen reports.
Also, Taiwo Akinkunmi, the 77-year-old designer of the national flag received the OFR (Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic award) and will also receive the salary of a special assistant to the president for the rest of his life.
