Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), says the Federal Government has concluded plans to establish citizens brigade with the aim of promoting core values.
Issa-Onilu disclosed this while speaking at an advocacy visit to the Nigerian Christian Institute (NCI), Uyo on Monday.
He said that the citizens brigade was part of the National Value Charter billed to be unveiled by President Bola Tinubu during the year.
The D-G said that no fewer then 37,000 Nigerian children would be recruited into the brigade and raised as models to promote core values and good citizenship.
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He noted that the Nigerian child must be nurtured from the cradle with core values to enable them grown into patriotic and productive adults.
“We have seven items on our plan to deepen national values, one of them is the establishment of citizens brigade.
“It is to give opportunities to our children to be nurtured from tender age, it is one of the voluntary institutions we intend to create
“It will be fashioned after what we knew those days as boys scout and girls brigade. They will be kitted and raised as model citizens,” he said.
He said that the expectation was to enlist hundreds of children into the brigade in the next fews years.
Issa-Onilu urged Nigerians to memorise and learn how to render the new national anthem as a way of demonstrating their patriotism to the nation.
“The new national anthem is a symbol of Nigerians’ allegiance and loyalty to the country. It is more impactful, more meaningful and capable of uniting us”, he said.
The D-G said that the new anthem not only brought back sense of patriotism and nationalism, but evoked the consciousness of Nigerians.
”The national anthem that we had in 1960 resonates more in comparison to the one we just changed.
”The lyrics are more impactful and more meaningful than the one that we just dropped. That is the real reason for going back to that,” he said.
In her remarks, Ms Mfon Nze, Principal, NCI, Uyo, expressed gratitude to the agency for finding the institution worthy of the advocacy visit.
Nze said that the impact of the visit would to be felt for a long time because it had revived the school’s value system
“I feel elated that in all the schools in Akwa Ibom and Uyo, you chose the NCI, this will remain indelible in the history of this institution,” she said. (NAN)
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