NOA DG: FG to Launch 37,000 Citizens’ Brigade Nationwide

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, has announced plans to launch a 37,000 Citizens’ Brigade in primary schools across the country.

He made the disclosure while speaking with journalists in Ibadan during a working visit to Oyo State.

He said 1,000 Citizens’ Brigade would be set up in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to promote national values as of old, stating that the essence of the Brigade was to revive and rebuild the national values and create positive models among the youthful population.

He said the government is worried that about 72 per cent of the nation’s youthful population have become foreigners through the influence of cartoons and movies which are foreign in contents, values and cultures.

Issa-Onilu said as a way out of the malaise, NOA would soon launch a Mobile App containing indigenous cartoons through which local contents, national values and culture would be promoted.

According to him, “These various policies are geared towards changing the narratives and the wrong impression that the outside world is having about the country.

“We are establishing, this year, 37,000 Citizens’ Brigade in Primary School. 1,000 in each state, including FCT, Abuja. These Citizens’ Brigade are going to be like Boys’ Scout and Girls’ Guild of the olden days.

“Across the world, Nigerians are known to be the smartest people on earth. This is a positive development but some people mischievously tend to portray us in negative light. But this is not who we are as a people.

“To change the negative narratives, we are setting up the Citizens’ Brigade to produce young Nigerians and create positive models to rebuild the national values.”

The NOA DG added that the negative development arising from adapting foreign culture has adversely affected the ethics and values of indigenous cultures nationwide, stating that children have been corrupted with the foreign culture right from their formative years, beginning from their various homes.

He said, “When you look at the children between the age 1-12, when they are back at home from school, the major contents they consume are foreign contents from cartoons and movies.

“You have a child in your house that you think is the one exposing him/her to life and managing his/her information and education.

“But you will discover that he knows far much better than you think he knows because the cartoons he/she is watching are foreign in content, value and culture.

“Right from your bedroom, he understands America through cartoons. Some of the cartoons today are showing a man and a woman conducting wedding.

“We have been raising foreigners as Nigerians and unfortunately 72 per cent of them below the age of 35 were raised that way.

“When you go to social media today, you will see the outcome in their lifestyle. You will be scared of the future of this country.

“We have a scary future with the present generation of youths who are in the majority. It is a combination of the Gen-Z and the millennials.

“The youth that fall within this category, between the ages of 1-35, have positive and negative traits but the negative traits are scary.

“They should be the most educated by virtue of their exposure and because of the tools that technology has brought.

“But unfortunately, most of them lack self-esteem and when you are raising 72 per cent of a population that lacks self esteem it becomes a problem.

“The affected age group lack self-esteem because they live their lives on the validation of their peers. They cannot stand on what they believe in. If what they believe in could not bring a number of followership, they would abandon it.

“They have created desperation and thereby taken away self-esteem from themselves so that whatever they need to do to please their peers, they will do it, even to the extent of posing nude in order to get validation.

“Where do they get this culture from? It is from the consumption of foreign culture from cartoons and movies. It is quite unfortunate that we have lost our local contents to foreign contents.”