Peter Obi has accused Bola Tinubu and previous Nigerian presidents of giving national honours to the wrong set of people: politicians. The former Anambra governor, therefore, urged the federal government to change the modalities for conferring national honours.

Speaking at the public presentation of ‘The Chronicles of a Legend’, a biography of Gabriel Igbinedion, on Thursday, Mr Obi said, “The GCFR and GCONs should be entrepreneurs and productive people, not politicians.

“We have to change the way we honour people.”

Mr Obi lauded Mr Igbinedion’s indelible contributions to the development of aviation, education, and cultural preservation, stressing that the philanthropist deserved more celebrations and recognition.

“We live in a country where we celebrate people who are supposed not to be celebrated. If we do, the celebration we are giving him today would have been more.

“If we had been a country that was productive, over 20 million Nigerians would have been employed because Igbinedion employed over 17,000 Nigerians,” the former presidential candidate added.

Mr Obi’s comments came amid the cash prizes and national awards conferred on Super Falcons for winning the Africa Cup of Nations.

This gesture had generated mixed reactions from Nigerians who advocated the same for several other Nigerians, especially in the education and security sectors.

Last month, Mr Tinubu conferred national awards on several Nigerians, both living and deceased, for their various contributions to the country’s growth and development.