NOA, UNICEF Partner On National Value, Behavioural Change

The National Oreintation Agency (NOA) and the United Nations Children Fund have concluded arragment to partner on behavioural change and national value programme, TheNATION reports.

President Bola Tinubu is expected to unveil the National Values Charter next month, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu said.

Issa-Onilu said the charter spells out the duties and benefits of being a responsible Nigerian.

He likened it to the ‘American Dream’.

Onilu spoke at an ongoing two-day strategic review meeting between NOA and UNICEF.

He said that the National Values Charter contains seven government obligations to the citizens and seven duties of the Nigerian to the government.

He said it is the responsibility of NOA to propagate the value charter.

He said: “We are expecting the president by April. He will unveil the national value charyer that the NOA under the umbrella of the Ministry of Information.”

Onilu stressed that most of the challenges confronting the nation was as as a result of lack of national value.

He said: “All our issues, name them, kidnapping, insecurity, terrorism and corruption they are all issues for people to have the right attitude, they must have value to subscribe to.

“Unfortunately for us in this country, we have not involved in national values. Until we have national value defined we cannot continue to talk about symptoms.

“We all expect that after unveiling the value we will all know who we are, what the expe ted attotide are. So that we can tell that those who are misrepresenting us are not real Nigerians.”

On the importance of the two day syrategic review, NOA boss said the management’s interaction with Staff is to share the focus and direction the agency is going.

He said: “It time for NOA to rise up and take that position that the nation expect of it for NOA to do that, they find out that they have some structure issues, with problems with the way

“So we are having this interaction for us to share with them our new focus and the approaches we are trying to embark on.”

On his part, Kshitij Joshi, Chief Social and Behavioural Change, UNICEF assured NOA and the agency of its support.

Joshi stressed that national value and behavioural change is a process which will end up providing result.