Abuja — The award panel of the Mohammed Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership decided that it has no nominee this year worthy of the prize. This means there will be no winner for 2009 from among the shortlisted candidates. The panellists did not deem any of the nominees worthy enough for the princely $5 million prize.

According to an announcement by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, "this year the Prize Committee has considered some credible candidates. However, after in-depth review, the Prize Committee could not select a winner." Thought no doubt a sad commentary on the quality of leadership on the continent, the outcome did not come as a surprise.

The Mo Ibrahim Prize, we must remind ourselves, is an African initiative established in 2006 to: stimulate debate on good governance across sub-Saharan Africa and the world; provide objective criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account; recognise achievement in African leadership and provide a practical way in which African leaders can build positive legacies on the continent when they have left office; and support aspiring leaders for the African continent.

These are modest qualities, not beyond a committed leader of any African country to possess. Yet they seem to constitute the Kilimanjaro for our leaders to attain.

While former Mozambique President Joachim Chisano won the maiden prize in 2007 and former Botswana President Festus Mogae clinched it in 2008, none of the three former presidents who were shortlisted for it this year: Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and John Kuffour of Ghana was found by the committee to meet the criteria. In fact some might argue that making it up to the shortlist was a truly monumental achievement for one or two of them.

Awards should not be given just because they have been instituted. The continent has been ill-served by incompetent, greedy and self-serving leaders who are neither responsive to the needs of their people nor care for the problems that confront them.

Some of the continent's leaders not only fragrantly subvert the constitution of their country in order to elongate their tenure in office, creating wars and instability in the process, they also bring poverty upon their people by massively stealing the resources of their nation and stash them away in foreign banks. And such crass leadership is not limited to the political realm.

It is significant that in Nigeria that the annual Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) prize for literature could not be awarded because none of the candidates shortlisted was considered to merit the $50,000 prize money.

We commend the courage and sense of integrity of the distinguished panellists of both the Mo Ibrahim Prize and the NLNG Literature Prize in living up to their consciences. Their stance will not only enhance the dignity and preserve the integrity of their respective awards; it is a wake-up call, in the case of the Ibrahim Prize, on sitting African presidents to strive for good governance. The world is watching. If it has to take years or a decade before a former African leader who really deserves an award emerges to claim it, it would be a worthwhile wait.

We also advise officials responsible for the National Honours Award in Nigeria to borrow a leaf from the decision of the panellists of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the NLNG. If there is a year that there are no Nigerians who have done something remarkable to uplift the fatherland, and there have been some, none should be given. The current practice whereby year in year out many citizens who have done nothing worthy of national recognition are given high national titles merely for holding position that they might not merit, has done nothing but bastardize the process.

Citizens should be encouraged to strive hard in their chosen career to uplift the continent and its people. Persons chosen for recognition must actually merit it.