The Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Mallam Lanre Issah Onilu, has expressed the plan by President Bola Tinubu, to unveil a National Values Charter to showcase the nation’s value system and ethos.
Onilu who made this known while addressing reporters in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, as part of his two-day visit to the state’s office of the agency, further explained that the charter has two components: the Nigerian Promise and the Code of Conduct.
According to the NOA DG, each of the components stands on seven pillars, tagged: “Seven for Seven”.
He emphasised that part of the seven strategies for the restoration of national values is the introduction of compulsory Nationalism Studies in schools – from primary to university level; the introduction of Citizens’ Brigade to replace the Boys’ Scouts and Girls’ Guard with 37,000 members at take-off across the country; and the creation of cartoons with local content.
Onilu however assured that the agency would mount global campaigns to show to the world Nigeria’s positive smartness and confidence, promoting the nation’s values with the acronym: CLHEEAN, which stands for Crime, Lawlessness, Health, Education, Environment, Abuse, and Narcotics.
The NOA boss said the agency would fine-tune its national system and reorder its priorities towards restoring the nation’s values.
According to him, the agency was creating platforms for enlightenment, including the creation of a mobile App, and the opening of radio and television studios at the NAO headquarters to directly produce materials to be sent out.
“We must have a national culture based on values,” he said.
The DG further bemoaned the nation’s poor reward system, saying NOA was doing the best it could to “take oxygen from those misrepresenting us”.
He however promised to encourage excellence and positive developments by giving letters of commendation to those doing the nation proud.