The National Orientation Agency, NOA, on Tuesday urged its stakeholders and partners to strengthen their synergy to ensure effective mandate delivery in line with the present administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Its Director-General, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, gave the advice at the Stakeholders and Partners’ Retreat on Re-engineering NOA Programmes for more Effective Re-Orientation Towards Achieving CLHEEAN Projects in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that CLHEEAN projects include Health and Hygiene, Environment, Education, Abuse and Narcotics as well as security.
Issa-Onilu said the retreat would re-examine the agency’s strategies to deliver its mandate, in line with the huge expectations on the government and people of Nigeria.
“As you are aware, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government places a lot of value in the reshaping attitudes, with the belief that positive attitudes generally will help push the country forward to achieve national objectives.
“It was based on this reason that our parent Ministry was renamed Ministry of Information and National Orientation to enable all of us concentrate on the task of national renewal.
“This retreat is the first step in our wide-ranging strategies for developing new approach, efficient systems, citizens-based plans for engaging with our people in tackling the various issues affecting our country,” said Issa-Onilu.
The director-general urged all the stakeholders and partners to ensure that the policies and plans under the CLHEEAN project succeed.
“We have no doubt that the experience and expertise garnered over the years by your organisations will add significant value to the effort currently being made by NOA to achieve our mandate.
“We believe that your partnership and participation will enable you identify mutual areas of confluence between our mandates that can fit into partnerships model under the CLHEEAN over-arching programme.
He said citizens’ support is very essential to the success of government and NOA projects and programmmes. The policies and programmes of the government that do not enjoy the support of the citizens would ultimately fail.
NOA chief said that the primary role of the agency was to mobilise citizens’ support for government programmes and activities.
He added that the agency would continue to provide platforms for citizens engagement to engender the success of the policies.
“NOA is set up primarily to take your policies to the citizens. Our presence in all the states and the 774 local councils is an opportunity available to all stakeholders and partners.
“We are re-engineering our process to deliver on our mandate of driving the communication of government policies, in achieving citizens awareness, understanding and acceptance of policies and programmes,” he said
Mr Salihu Dembos, Director-General, Nigerian Television Authority said NOA has a big task ahead of them, saying that part of the problems confronting the country was issue of trust.
Dembos, represented by Mr Ayo Adewuyi, executive director, News, said that citizens did not trust their leaders, urging the agency to do the needful in order to restore citizens’ trust.
“How do we restore trust; how do we ensure that citizens trust their leaders? If we are able to do this, we will be on the right track,” he said.
He reiterated his organisation’s commitment in supporting programmes capable of re-orienting Nigerians on the change of national goals.
Hajia Lami Adamu Lau, National President, National Council for Women Societies, NCWS, commended NOA for organising the retreat aimed at re-orienting relevant stakeholders and partners on government’s policies, programmes and projects.
Lau, represented by Mrs Nnenna Emedolibe, Programme Officer of NCWS, said women were faced with all forms of sufferings and accusations in the society.
She said that with the retreat, stakeholders should put more effort to see how they could help women at the grassroots.
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