The Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu has said that building patriotic citizenship is more important than building roads and bridges.
Issa-Onilu stated this on Wednesday in Abuja when he paid a courtesy call on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
His words: “There has been a series of efforts in the past to galvanise Nigerians, to make us patriotic, but as it is said, you cannot enforce patriotism, and you cannot legislate it. You have to motivate it. Patriotism is like force, there must be an attraction. Which means that the country must be attractive.
“You must do things that must attract the citizens. Most times, such things are intangible. They are not things that we can see because they are psychological.
“We believe that when we are able to communicate government activities well, we will be able to galvanise Nigerians towards patriotism and shared values. It will make the work of INEC easier.
“Building patriotic citizenship is more important than building roads and bridges.”
Isa-Onilu noted that governments at all levels must be intentional in delivering policies that would trigger patriotism to the country from citizens.
He pointed out that patriotism to one’s country cannot be forced on citizens, nor can it be enforced by a piece of legislation, but rather it is a natural attractive force that can only be galvanized by good governance.
Issa-Onilu added: “We have a president who understands what it means to have a united and cohesive citizenry. He says all the time that we are members of the same family, living in the same building, albeit different rooms. So whatever affects that vision, affects all of us.
“Without bringing this country together, without ensuring that Nigerians are psychologically connected to their country, we cannot go anywhere.
“We can build all the bridges. We can build fantastic road network. We can have the best hospital. You can have all of that. When the people are disconnected psychologically from their country, as they say, from the part of the country where I come from, you can build mansions, it is the child that you did not build that will destroy it. So if we build our people, our people will build the country. So it is important to ensure that Nigerians have the right kind of values, and are able to connect to their country.”
Issa-Onilu pointed out the need for NOA to collaborate with INEC on civic and voter education and called for more assistance from the electoral umpire.
He said that such synergy would enable the commission to concentrate on its area of strength which is conduct of election while NOA will take over voter education.
“NOA has never been given credit for democracy education. We do not have a budget for that, and it is a very important aspect of what we do. People must understand what democracy is and their role in it, their responsibilities, and their rights,”Issa-Onilu said.
Speaking, Yakubu said as the national election management body, the commission is aware that its responsibility is multi-stakeholder and inter-agency in nature.
To succeed, Yakubu noted that they must engage all stakeholders and every national institution relevant to the commission’s mandate, saying one of such national institutions is the NOA.