Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, Director General, National Orientation Agency
By Taiwo Adisa
What is today known as the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is an offspring of the Mass Mobilisation for Self-Reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER) which was premiered by Professor Jerry Gana and his team under the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1987. The body was introduced by the military regime to promote value orientation, self-reliance, and social justice, as well as educate citizens about the political process and encourage participation in elections and the myriads of debates it was consistently engaging the public with. At that time, some of the objectives of MAMSER includes re-orienting Nigerians; campaign against waste and vanity in lifestyle; promotion of public values; campaign to eschew social vices like corruption, dishonesty, and electoral malpractices; campaign to foster national development, as well as encouraging participation in the political process and promoting locally made goods.
Within a short time, MAMSER plugged itself in public consciousness to the extent that the young and the old had its anthems on their lips. On radio and television, captivating jingles, playlets and drama of all kinds were used to explain government actions, inactions and policies. It was a mass movement. I had pictures of the MAMSER heroics in my head when I was deployed to serve in the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation by the National Youth Service Corps.
Though I was assigned a beat as a Government House Correspondent and filed stories daily to the Lagos headquarters of the ministry at the time; while also getting published in the weekly and monthly publications, I didn’t feel the vibes that MAMSER created through the service year.
Thus, over the years, after Prof. Jerry Gana’s exploits, the NOA, which took over the direct functions of MAMSER had lost its orientation and was constantly presenting the picture of a ‘dead’ and forgotten government parastatal. Even though its parent ministry has also not been doing well over the years, it was, however, easier to forget about the NOA, because the Information Ministry at least presents itself in our faces occasionally.
But as much as time heals, it equally destroys. The biblical book, Ecclesiastes says there is time for everything under the sun. A poet who wrote Time, a work we treated in 100 level Poetry class shows Time as the destroyer of everything including the teeth of the lion with which it crushed bones! Since Time can destroy and heal, it thus can engender the good and the bad. For the NOA, as presently constituted, under the leadership of Alhaji Lanre Isssa-Onilu, maybe we can say that the drought period is over, and that Nigerians are beginning to reap some dividends from the mobilisation agency. As a result of my early stint with the parent ministry, I would say I usually take interest in activities of the agency. And year after year, it’s been one unpalatable story or the other. Perhaps that makes it easily noticeable when a change has occurred.
As soon as the current management took over, one can see the signs of the good things to come. Aside the launch of The Explainer, as an in-house magazine to provide in-depth analysis and contents on diverse aspects of government, the agency also made it clear to all that its core mandate would revolve around specific efforts including informing the citizens, educating that and inspiring the Nigerian people into building a great nation. NOA had immediately launched out as one agency with sharp focus on service delivery.
And I can see that The Explainer had in several editions taken on the task of breaking down key policies and programmes. One of such is the expansive space it took to explain the benefits of the Tax Reform Bills, which is already being passed into law by the National Assembly. It has equally taken time out to explain the challenges associated with power supply in this era, something I would say, should have been complemented by positive energy from the Ministry of Power. Everyone knows that power is problematic, but no one needed to be told repeatedly that Nigeria’s power problem is more than 60 years old as you often hear from the key drivers of policy in the Power Ministry, of course, that would amount to throwing the hands in the air, which cannot qualify as hallmark of leadership.
One noticeable thing in the operation of the current NOA is the adoption of digital tools to enhance civic engagement. Insiders in the agency would confirm that the drivers of its policy initiatives had realised the importance of technology in reaching the youthful and tech-savvy population. The body therefore launched the Mobiliser App in March 2024.
The app that is available on both Android and iOS platforms, serves as a hub for accessing information about government policies, programmes and initiatives as well as to provide feedback on government activities. Citizens are being encouraged to partake in the governance process through the “Say Something” tool, where issues can be reported anonymously to not only provide feedback but to bridge the communication gap between the government and the populace.
Though stakeholders in the organisation would contend that the tool equally encourages transparency and accountability in government, but it is obvious that other arms of government must take decisive actions in transparency to enhance the little drops from the NOA in that regard. The agency had also launched the Mobiliser App, which is the AI-powered platform called CLHEEAN. This is an acronym for Crime, Lawlessness, Health, Education, Environment, Abuse, and Nationalism. It was launched in July 2024 with the promise that it would function as a virtual assistant to provide real-time information on government initiatives, civic responsibilities, and national values. It was designed to interactively engage citizens in a way that would foster fostering deeper understanding of governmental programmes and ensure the participation of citizens in national development.
This is an idea that goes deep into theoretical basis of citizenship and democratic ideals. Democratic-Participant theories have indicated that open access of citizen-body to governance through the media is an undeniable quality of democratic governance. That presupposes that the more access the citizens are guaranteed, the better it becomes to avoid the democracy paradox-the Achilles heels of democratic governance across the world.
Because democracy promises more but often delivers little, the people are usually left in a quandy as to whether they have made the right choice by sticking to democracy. This, the type of open access being encouraged by the digital tools of the NOA would serve a good purpose if sustained for a long while.
Some of the other areas the NOA has been strong in recent years include the revitalisation of national identity and values, the campaign against Gender-based violence and partnerships in legislative advocacy. In recent months, the agency has been involved somewhat vigorously in campaigns to revitalise national identity and values. As contained in some of its publications, the NOA had, to this effect launched the 7 for 7 framework, which is aimed at enhancing the reciprocal commitments between the government and its citizens.
The programme promises government commitments to guarantee Equality, Democracy, Entrepreneurship, Peace & Security, Inclusivity, Freedom & Justice, and Meritocracy, while it expects the citizens to reciprocate by upholding values including Discipline, Duty of Care, Tolerance, Leadership, Accountability, Environmental Awareness, and Resilience. This is surely a campaign that demands extensive coverage and planning as seeks to engender attitude change in the citizens. While campaigns like this are not guaranteed a hypodermic-niddle effect, consistency of implementation can, however, ensure a huge success mileage.
Besides that, one can also see the introduction of the Citizens Value Brigade to replace the moribund War Against Indiscipline (WAI) Brigade. The WAI Brigade initiative was introduced as a contemporary copycat of the policy of General Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon’s iron-fisted rule of the mid-1980s, with the objective of instilling discipline, moral rectitude and alignment with democratic ideals. The current initiative is, however, meant to operate in schools and communities, to promote ethical behaviour and civic responsibility. In this regard, the agency has designated September 16 as the National Symbols Day, with the aim of promoting nationwide awareness and respect for national symbols including the flag, national anthem, and the pledge. Added that that initiative is the integrating of citizenship education into the nation’s academic curricula. One of the agency’s publications noted that this initiative is key to shaping the shaping future leaders, and that the agency plans to ensure that Citizenship Studies is introduced as a compulsory subject across all educational levels.
“This subject will focus on values, ethics, and the history of Nigeria, aiming to inculcate a strong sense of national identity and civic responsibility among students, the document indicated, adding that the NOA is already collaborating with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to integrate value orientation into the mandatory one-year service programme. Apart from promoting programmes such as the digital learning programmes, the NOA has equally been strong on political education-focused initiatives, anti-corruption campaigns in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as health awareness campaigns to popularise immunisations as well as digital birth registration campaign.
One of the agency’s strong points of the agency in recent months is the campaign against gender-based violence, a global campaign which Nigeria has recently keyed into. One is impressed that the NOA has intensified its gender-focused initiatives, with the aim of reducing to its barest minimum, issues of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the communities. An adjunct of this initiative is the push to promote women participation in governance, and elimination of harmful traditional practices. The agency said in one publication that: “These efforts reflect NOA’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive and equitable society.” It has been observing the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and launched a nationwide campaign whereby traditional and religious leaders are engaged to address the dangers of GBV and emphasise the importance of community involvement in creating a violence-free society.
Gradually, one can see that the NOA of today is gradually making the needed change happen. But in a society like ours, where almost every sector is challenged, the good steps of one agency would only get the expected ovation, when it is complimented by the sister and brother bodies.
