Buhari Honours Allen Onyema, Rabiu, Ovia, Adenuga With National Merit Award

Chairmen of  Airpeace, BUA Group, Zenith Bank and Globacom, Allen Onyema, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Jim Ovia and Mike Adenuga, among 45 others, have been honoured with the National Productivity Order of Merit Award (NPOM) by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

At the 2019/20 edition of the Awards held on Thursday May 12, 2022, the President granted the National Productivity Order of Merit to 49 eminent Nigerians in various categories, with Onyema, Rabiu,  Adenuga,  Ovia, and Chinedum Anthony Okereke decorated in the “Employers of Labour” category.

Speaking after the award ceremony, aviation cognoscente Allen Onyema thanked President Buhari and the Labour Ministry under Senator Chris Ngige even as he pledged to remain committed to the Nigerian project as  well as impacting the economy through his entrepreneurial engagements. ” Nigeria is our country and we all must do all we can to take her to greater heights,” Onyema said.

BUA Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu, expressed his  appreciation to the Award’s panel and President  Buhari for considering him worthy of the honour. He also reaffirmed BUA Group’s commitment to human, economic and social development while fostering productive enterprise in Nigeria.

Other honorees include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, former Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Akin Abayomi, among others.

The National Productivity Order of Merit Award is organized by the National Productivity Center as an arm of the Federal Government instituted to recognize and honour productive individuals and organisations in Nigeria in the year of the award for achievements made in three preceding years. The center was established to improve the quantity and quality of goods and services available for consumption in Nigeria as means for increasing wealth.

Senator Ngige, the Labour Minister told journalists that the Award was government’s positive step to institutionalize conscious productivity and excellent service among workers and organisations to redirect efforts at building and growing the economy.

Other objectives, he said, were to reward the most productive workers and organisations in public and private sectors for diligence, high performance, high productivity and research achievements, as well as encourage the spirit of healthy competition among Nigerian workers and companies in self-reliance.