Experts in both communication and civil society has challenged Nigerian citizens and other stakeholders to collaborate with government in addressing the problem of misinformation, absence of values, education and violence against children affecting the growth of the society.
This was the position expressed by an array of panelists who spoke during the last three editions of the ‘How to Fix Nigeria’ symposium series held in Abuja, Calabar and Bauchi.
The hybrid virtual and physical event series with conversations revolving around ‘Uniting for Action’ was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and organised by OYA Media across the six (6) geopolitical regions in Nigeria.
Comfort Ogunmola, the acting director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), FCT directorate, said everyone, without exception, has a role to play in changing the perceived identity crisis and value deterioration confronting the country as a nation.
Speaking on the theme: ‘National Orientation – Effective Communication for True Empowerment’, Ogunmola states further that perception was at the core of Nigeria’s problem adding that government policies had been at the receiving end as a result of this.
Alkasim Abdul Kadir, a communications
specialist, lamented the poor funding suffered by NOA stating that there is little to be achieved in behavioural communication given the meagre resources allocated to the Agency.
“NOA has been abandoned by the framers of the Act. Nigeria is a low trust society. We don’t trust anything that comes from the government. The trust deficit has been on for over 60 years because of the failure of past promises,” Kadir stated.
Amara Nwankpa, director, public policy initiative, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, said that government communication on many issues has failed to influence due to the inability to capture aspirational identities or languages of the people.
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“Government communication over the years has been undermined by bad examples. A case in point happened during the #EndSARS riot where people were sacrificed and a lot of palliatives were locked in many of the states,” he said.
At another summit themed “Education – Empowering the Youth,” which was held in Bauchi, the State Director, National Orientation Agency, Nura Yusuff Kobi identified drug abuse, kidnapping, Boko Haram insurgents and Coronavirus as some of the issues crippling educational activities in the region.
Kobi, therefore, charged all stakeholders to support government in finding a lasting solution to these hydra-headed problems. Accordingly, he posits that the agency is doing its best to sensitise parents on the need to give utmost priority to the education of their children noting that religious, cultural norms, values or beliefs should not be allowed to dissuade them from educational pursuits.
“We need to fix education at the primary level if we hope to get it right. This is a stage where kids get nurtured and trained properly. There is a need for a paradigm shift as far as focus on what should be done,” said Khalid Barau Ningi, the senior special assistant on empowerment to Bauchi State Governor.
Ningi states that certain factors have contributed to the poor fortune of education in the region and that drug abuse remains the major challenge to the pursuit of education among the youth.
At the Calabar session themed “Child Rights and Protection from Law to Reality” which featured panellists such as Ndodeye Bassey-Obongha, head of programmes at Girls Power Initiative; Bernedine Ekpenyong, Coalition of Youth-serving NGOs and Jacob Ọba, head of operations at NAPTIP Nigeria, Calabar.
Both Oba and Ekpenyong believed that child abuse had continued to persist in Nigeria not due to the absence of law, but as a result of failure on the part of constituted authorities to implement laws that serve as deterrents to others.
