By RITA ILIYA

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) says plans are underway to introduce 37,000 Citizens’ Brigades in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to promote moral values.

The Director-General of NOA, Mr Lanre Issa-Onilu, disclosed this during an interactive session with newsmen while on a familiarisation visit to the agency’s office in Minna on Tuesday.

He said that the initiative would commence with the inauguration of 1,000 citizens’ brigade in primary schools to promote national values.

“These citizens’ brigades will be trained on positive values and nurtured to become models for their peers to emulate.

“In Nigeria today, people who are 35 years old and below constitute 70 per cent of our population and any policy we are designing must focus on them, as they constitute the largest population,” he said.

Issa-Onilu said that NOA would inculcate positive values in the youth so that their peers would be able to emulate their good values and lifestyles.

He said the agency was In discussion with relevant institutions to introduce ‘Nationalism Studies’ as a compulsory subject in primary schools and tertiary institutions to enhance inculcation of positive values.

The NOA director-general described as worrisome, the foreign contents which children were being exposed to on daily basis through cartoons.

He said that the agency would call for entries from some Nigerians on cartoons that would promote local contents.

Issa-Onilu further stated that the agency would soon launch a mobile application containing indigenous cartoons, through which local contents, national values and culture would be promoted.

According to him, adaptation to foreign culture has affected the ethics and values being promoted by indigenous cultures.

He noted that all these efforts were meant to change the narratives on how Nigerians were being negatively portrayed across the globe.

The NOA director-general said that the agency had brought all its activities under an acronym, tagged: ‘CLHEEAN’ to cleanse the society of all bad behaviours, activities and mannerism.

According to him, CLHEEAN stands for criminality, lawlessness, health, education, environment, abuse and narcotics, adding that the agency’s activities would revolve around these. (NAN)

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