The Nigerian Presidency, three weeks ago, released the official list of 101 awardees for the 2025 Democracy Day National Honours, recognising Nigerians, both living and dead, who have made significant contributions to the nation’s democratic journey and the overall progress of the country. The Nigerian National Honours are a set of orders and decorations conferred upon Nigerians and friends of Nigeria every year. They were instituted by the National Honours Act No. 5 of 1964, during the First Nigerian Republic, to honour Nigerians who have rendered service to the benefit of the nation. People receive these honours to convey to them the appreciation the country has for their accomplishments. The 2025 Nigeria National Honours were conferred on several living and deceased individuals for their contributions to human rights, literature, journalism, politics, civil society, humanity, and public service.
The Nigerian National Honours, in descending order of importance, are:
Order of the Federal Republic
• Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR)
• Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR)
• Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR)
• Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR)
Order of the Niger
• Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON)
• Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON)
• Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON)
• Member of the Order of the Niger (MON)
Your Excellency Sir, one notable omission from your list of 2025 Nigeria National nominees was one Rt. Rev. Bishop Dr. Matthew Akhaze Okpebholo (JP). Just two days after your list of awardees for National Honours was released, Sir, I had the singular honour and privilege of delivering a public lecture titled,”Ideas to Impact: Turning Passions into Profitable Ventures,” to a teeming audience of physical and virtual attendees on the occasion of the 75th birthday celebration of Rt. Rev Okpebholo (JP) and the 29th anniversary of the establishment of the Matthew Okpebholo Foundation at Uromi, Edo State.
The lecture offered me the opportunity to x-ray this Nigerian, born mid-day, mid-week, mid-month, mid-year, and mid-century on the 15th of June, 1950 to the Okpebholo family in the modest town of Uromi, Edo State. Rt. Rev. Okpebholo began life with no visible privileges—no silver spoon, no inheritance to lean on, and no connections to manipulate. What he had, instead, was a burning desire to rise. And rise he did—by embracing hard work, discipline, and a fearless willingness to learn.
By the age of 20, he had established Royal Steel Works, a humble venture that would later grow into what we now know as Ray Royal Construction Company Limited—one of the most respected engineering/construction firms in Nigeria, with offices across the country and employing over 1,000 people, including expatriates, thereby supporting hundreds of households and contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s economic fabric. Bishop Okpebholo saw that his fellow Nigerians needed jobs, so he built businesses. He saw that young people needed education, so he built schools. He saw people dying from preventable and curable diseases, so he built hospitals. He saw spiritual hunger, so he answered the call to ministry.
Rt. Rev. Okpebholo gave his life to Christ in 1974 and became a substantive pastor in 1985. Subsequently, he was formally ordained into the five-fold ministry as a Reverend Minister under the Church of God Mission International on the 6th day of August 1989 by Archbishop Benson Idahosa of blessed memory.
Rt. Rev. Okpebholo has shown us that business and ministry can walk together—that faith and finance are not enemies. That one man—driven by a clear vision and guided by God—can shape industries, communities, and futures. His microfinance scheme, made up of cash and material donations, also includes settlement of hospital/medical, school, and examination fees, and other indebtedness for widows and single parents. To date, well over 7,000 families have benefited. There are also some widows on a monthly allowance.
For over 29 years, he has consistently provided free legal aid services to prison/correctional centre inmates, and where the courts impose a minor fine, he pays it for those who are unable to afford it. One major hallmark of the prison/correctional outreach is the provision of financial aid and rehabilitation materials to those who have been released, to enable them to go home and be reunited with their loved ones or to start life anew.
It would interest His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Sir, that the day you announced the 2025 Nigeria National Honours Award nominees—on the 12th of June 2025—the Edo State Governor, His Excellency. Senator Monday Okpebholo, ably represented, was in Irrua, Edo State, to commission a new Geriatric Centre at the Federal Government-owned Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH). This complex was solely built at a whopping sum of ₦100,000,000.00 (one hundred million naira only) and donated to the ISTH management by Rt. Rev. Okpebholo for the care of geriatric patients. What a coincidence that this illustrious Uromi man of Esan North-East Local Government Area shares the same surname with the Executive Governor of Edo State, who hails from Irrua, Esan Central Local Government Area, and they are not direct blood relatives. The Geriatric Centre is not an Old People’s Home, as many would want to assume. Geriatrics is a medical specialty focused on addressing the unique health needs of older adults (senior citizens). It is instructive that the first Geriatric Centre in Nigeria—and indeed the whole of Africa—was first built and commissioned on the 17th of November 2012 by another illustrious Esan son of blessed memory, Late Chief Anthony Anenih, Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR), at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State. The Matthew Okpebholo Geriatric Centre in ISTH therefore represents another masterstroke in community empowerment, development, and impact-making. This is also not to forget the Accident & Emergency Complex at the Uromi General Hospital he solely built, tastefully equipped with modern therapeutic and diagnostic facilities, and which he donated to the Edo State Government four years ago with a promise to supply all the consumables for the care of patients for the next 100 years!
Rt. Rev. Okpebholo has been involved in numerous community and philanthropic gestures not only in Edo State but also across the entire country. He has single-handedly constructed and donated several roads to ease the transportation network within many communities and Nigerian higher institutions—notably in the University of Benin, Benin City; Federal Polytechnic, Auchi; the entire road network in the College of Medicine of the Benson Idahosa University, Benin City; Igbinedion University, Okada; Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Edo State; and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, to mention but a few. These projects are verifiable for any doubting Thomases. Little wonder the management of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, once described this illustrious Nigerian as a man of God with the heart of gold.
Rt. Rev. Okpebholo has trained and equipped over 5,000 pastors and church workers and has created a new paradigm for the church in Nigeria on the true meaning of “The Church” by providing, on a consistent basis since 1975, financial and material support to various churches, including assisting them in the completion of their church buildings as well as financial empowerment of pastors outside his own denomination, the Church of God Mission International.
Your Excellency Sir, Rt. Rev. Okpebholo’s just celebrated 75th birthday was the honoring of a legacy—a legacy built not only in brick and mortar, but in lives transformed, institutions built, and dreams made possible. The life of Bishop Okpebholo is a masterclass in how passion, when properly channeled, can create enduring impact—and how ideas, when nurtured with discipline and faith, can be turned into thriving, profitable ventures. And yet, ask anyone who has met him, and they will tell you: he remains humble, approachable, unassuming, and deeply committed to seeing others rise.
Dear President Tinubu Sir, what made the 75th birthday celebration of Rt. Rev. Okpebholo more special was not that we were just merry-making. It was that he had chosen to mark this milestone by investing again in indigent Nigerian university undergraduate final-year students—a tradition he has sustained for 29 unbroken years by giving annual bursary awards to randomly selected indigent undergraduate final-year students across most of the universities in Nigeria, including students from federal government-owned institutions. It is on record that over 15,000 (fifteen thousand) documented undergraduate students have benefited from his generosity and capacity-building efforts in Nigerian youths since the inception of his Foundation. This is not to forget several thousands of undergraduate/postgraduate students that have benefitted directly from this man without going through the official route of the Foundation. On his 75th birthday, when most people would expect to receive, he chose to give ₦50,000 (fifty thousand naira only) each to 1,000 indigent final-year university students. That is ₦50,000,000.00 (fifty million naira only) in one swoop—by investing in the future of the next generation of Nigerian builders, creators, thinkers, and leaders. Rt. Rev. Okpebholo has promised to increase the current bursary from ₦50,000.00 to ₦100,000.00 for indigent final-year undergraduates in 2026. He has also promised to single-handedly construct and donate a new lecture hall valued at ₦120,000,000.00 (one hundred and twenty million naira) to the federal government-owned National Institute of Construction Technology and Management in Uromi to celebrate his birthday next year.
Your Excellency Sir, 29 years ago—fittingly and instructively—I was a beneficiary of the Dr. Matthew Okpebholo Foundation as a medical student of the then Edo State University, now Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. Through the goodwill of the bursary award I received from this great Nigerian, I was able to navigate a very trying and difficult situation of paying a huge financial group contribution that facilitated the transfer of my 1992 admission set to the University of Benin as a result of accreditation problems then of the College of Medicine, Edo State University, with the Medical & Dental Council of Nigeria. On behalf of every Nigerian student beneficiary of the Dr. Matthew Okpebholo Foundation, every dreamer with a burning idea, every young person who dares to hope—we say thank you. Thank you for leading by example. Thank you for proving that generosity from the abundance of God’s blessings to humanity pays.
Your Excellency Sir, Dr. Okpebholo is now a Bishop Emeritus and Board Trustee of the Church of God Mission International. He has used these positions to strengthen both faith and infrastructure in the church. He is the Vice Chairman of the Governing Council of Benson Idahosa University, Edo State, helping to guide the direction of a university that educates thousands of students. With over 230 national and international awards to his name—from Papal blessings in Rome to at least six Nigerian university doctorate degrees (Honoris Causa)—Dr. Okpebholo continues to shine as a bright star and a good example to Nigerian youths and generations yet unborn. Even now, at 75, Bishop Okpebholo’s biggest joy is not in his awards or accolades—it is in knowing that someone, somewhere, will rise because he gave. He did not just celebrate 75 years. He celebrated 75 years of relevance, resilience, and remarkable impact.
Our dear President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Senator Tinubu GCFR Sir, Rt. Rev. Okpebholo has shown that he is a worthy candidate for future nomination to be recognized and decorated by the authorities of his country of birth for his numerous philanthropic gestures and contribution to a better Nigerian society. Thank you, and God bless you, Sir.
Dr. Eigbedion writes from Lagos State
