On Thursday, President Bola Tinubu approved the conferment of 959 national honours and endorsed reforms to strengthen the funding framework for the Nigeria Police Force.
These approvals followed marathon meetings of the National Council of State and the Police Council at the State House, Abuja.
Addressing State House correspondents, the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Affairs Office, Dr Emanso Umobong, confirmed the President’s approval of the National Honours Award Committee’s report for 2024 and 2025, as well as “special awards that were earlier bestowed by the President from January 2025 to date.”
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Umobong said the committee, chaired by Justice Sidi Bage, screened over 5,000 applications before recommending 824 recipients for the 2024/2025 National Honours and 135 special awardees, resulting in a total of 959 honourees.
“The award of titles of honour and decorations of dignitaries is a yearly event at which the President honours deserving nationals and non-nationals who have distinguished themselves in the service of the nation and humanity,”
Umobong added that, in the spirit of inclusive national recognition, the President had already honoured several individuals in the past year, including Bill Gates for public health contributions, Uncle Sam Pemu for journalism, and the Super Falcons and D’Tigress for excellence in sports.
Others were the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four, “honoured posthumously for environmental activism,” and Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the outgoing INEC Chairman, “recognised for service to Nigeria’s democratic process.”
The updated list of awardees will be “published soon.”
Following the Council of State session, the Nigeria Police Council meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, approved major reforms to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.
In his first-ever briefing to journalists, Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam, said the Council ratified proposals to repeal and re-enact the 2019 Police Trust Fund Establishment Act.
This is specifically to “remove its six-year limit and transform it into a permanent agency.”
Geidam explained the reasoning:“The sunset clause of six years in the current Act limits the lifespan of the Nigerian Police Trust Fund and impedes long-term planning, thereby constraining sustainable police reform. We also prayed that the Council approve the repeal and re-enactment of the Nigerian Police Transparency Establishment Act 2025 in order to remove the sunset clause and transition it into an agency,”
The Council also approved an upward review of the Police Trust Fund’s allocation from 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent of the Federation Account, and directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to incorporate all resolutions into an executive bill for submission to the National Assembly.
Geidam confirmed the approvals: “All these prayers have been approved without any omission.”
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