The National Orientation Agency (NOA), has called for unity and patriotism among Nigerians, emphasizing the critical role of reforms in creating structures that promote positive societal values, as seen in countries like Japan and the United States.
It also stressed the need for urgent implementation of reforms to lay the foundation for a more unified and prosperous nation.
Director-General of NOA, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, disclosed this in Abuja, during the media Parley with Senior Journalists and the presentation of the 7-7 National Values Charter, he outlined a framework proposed by NOA to address longstanding issues of national unity and patriotism.
The National Values Charter includes a dual commitment: one from the government to its citizens, defined in the “Nigerian Promise,” and the other from citizens in the “Citizen Codes.”
Issa-Onilu said: “There have been several efforts in this country to promote patriotism and galvanize Nigerians to love their country.”
He stressed the need for urgent implementation of reforms to lay the foundation for a more unified and prosperous nation.
He added, “We don’t have a country where we all see ourselves as brothers and sisters. So all these efforts, something must be missing. And that’s what was the crux of my paper, which I submitted.
“And I felt two things were missing. First, if you look at all these efforts, they were all targeted at the citizens. Asking citizens to be patriotic, to make sacrifices, to be committed to the country, to love their country.
“Without the leadership coming to the table, to spell out their own commitment, it was all about the citizens. And it’s got to be said that the citizens will have to ask, what about you, the leaders? So we felt that was missing, that it was only one party that was being challenged. That the burden of patriotism was put squarely on the shoulder of just the citizens.
“The second thing that we thought was missing was there were no institutions to even nurture patriotism. When you create values, there must be institutions to nurture values. And they do not exist.
“So in the last three decades, we have exposed our children, our youths, to an environment where there are no guidance. Because there are no institutions to nurture them. So it is in the nature of man to seek heroes. So they were looking for heroes. They couldn’t find it because we didn’t create it for them. We didn’t create models for them.”
Issa-Onilu also discussed the importance of national identity, highlighting that most countries have clearly defined citizenships.
He further elaborated, “For most countries, one can clearly define their citizenship. When you see Americans, Japanese and Chinese, they have their attributes. Even if there are foreign students in the US, they will be taught the American way of Life.
“For Nigeria, we can hardly define our citizenships. Why we have failed as a country is because our national identity has not evolved and until we evolve a national identity, we cannot get that unity, that sense of patriotism, that love for the country that we are looking for.”
Drawing on the concept of collective identity, Issa-Onilu explained that Nigerians must create a shared identity that transcends tribal and religious lines. “If we have a group identity for Nigeria, anyone not adhering to that identity will see themselves as not being a proper Nigerian. Nobody wants to be seen as not a proper Nigerian.”