Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, has said that the NOA is severely underfunded and neglected.
During an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Issa-Onilu accentuated that “the agency has been completely abandoned for over two decades.”
“The NOA has 812 office locations nationwide, including all the 774 local governments and 36 states, but only 5 out of the 812 offices belong to the NOA,” Issa-Onilu said. “Either we are squatting somewhere or someone is rejecting us from going somewhere.”
Issa-Onilu highlighted the staffing and resource challenges, “As of today, from a staff strength of 7,000, we have less than 4,000, and not a single car. Since I entered office last year, I use my personal vehicle.”
He explained the difficulty in mobilising Nigerians without adequate resources, “We cannot mobilise Nigerians when we don’t have mobility. It is not that we have not done anything, but as of today, we have put up a lot of platforms for engagement.”
Despite these constraints, the agency has managed to utilise technology effectively, “As I speak to you, in NOA we have some of the best technology that you can find for communication in Nigeria even without the funding that we are talking about.”
“Our staff in the local governments, known as Community Orientation and Mobilization Officers (COMOs), are busy engaging with people even without resources and mobility,” Issa-Onilu stated, They are still doing the best they can.”
He emphasised the importance of building the nation, “We are in a country we are struggling to build and yet we are not paying attention to building Nigeria. You cannot build Nigeria without building Nigerians.”
Issa-Onilu also mentioned the upcoming National Identity project: “We have come up with the National Identity project that the president will unveil soon, as the media landscape has changed.”
Regarding recent protests, Issa-Onilu said, “There were no surprises to this protest at all. Many Nigerians felt let’s use other means to protest; some of them are on the streets justifiably.”
He noted the efforts made by the government to engage with the protesters, “For me, the president’s speech came at the right time. Three weeks before the protest, many government officials, including the president, were all out there reaching out even to the protesters through the back door, engaging with them and trying to reason along and come to a conclusion on how to move forward.”
Issa-Onilu highlighted the need for nurturing institutions, “We don’t have institutions of nurturing in this country. Every country you see today like France, America, if you go there you will understand them, they will teach you what their country is about.”
NNEOMA UDENSI
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