The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has officially approved the use of the third stanza of the new national anthem as a prayer during public events in the country.
This was disclosed by the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, during a press briefing and stakeholders’ meeting as part of the nationwide sensitisation on the National Values, Charter, and National Anthem at the Akwa Ibom State Directorate of NOA, Federal Secretariat, Uyo.
The FEC also directed that the first stanza of the anthem be rendered at all official functions, while all three stanzas will be reserved for special occasions such as Independence Day, Democracy Day, the inauguration of the National Assembly, Children’s Day, Armed Forces Remembrance Day, and Workers’ Day.
Issa-Onilu Onilu, who was represented by the Director of Orientation and Behaviour Modification, Madam Tessy Nnalue, highlighted the significant strides made by the agency in its efforts to re-engineer the focus of its campaigns nationwide over the past few weeks.
He stated, “As you may be aware, we have been advocating for a fundamental approach to value orientation and attitudinal change campaigns. Whereas slogans are good for the ear, they do not entrench these values in our hearts.”
Issa-Onilu noted that the act establishing the Agency makes its mandates clear, including communicating government policies, programmes, and activities, mobilising support for them, and providing feedback to the government.
The Agency was also tasked with promoting democracy as the best model of governance and fostering values that ensure peace, orderliness, and moral conduct.
“In collaboration with our parent ministry, the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the Agency submitted for the consideration of the Federal Executive Council, some proposals seeking to entrench our value orientation processes. Many of them deal with young-age indoctrination, providing the template for evaluating the Real Nigerian character. All of the memoranda were approved by the Federal Executive Council,” he noted.
According to him, one of the key achievements includes the “restoration of the dignity and standardisation of national symbols such as the National Flag, Anthem, Pledge, and the Coat of Arms.”
Under this, the Council approved that the first stanza of the National Anthem should be rendered at all official functions, while the three stanzas should be for special occasions such as Independence Day, Democracy Day, Inauguration of the National Assembly, Children’s Day, Armed Forces Remembrance Day, and Workers Day.
They also approved that the third stanza of the new National Anthem is adopted as national Prayer and that the National Orientation Agency (NOA) as custodian of the National Symbols should be the source of all official symbols to ensure standardisation.
The council also approved that September 16 be observed as a national symbol of enlightenment day in the country and that NOA vigorously promotes these symbols to ensure that they are accorded respect, properly displayed, and handled, including the hoisting of the national flag in public buildings, to build up love for country, strong national identity, unity, and pride.
Issa-Onilu informed that the Agency, by law, has been mandated to communicate government policies, programmes, and activities, which has compelled him to adopt new methodologies to fulfill this mandate.
He said the new communication platforms target a range of demographics, including the young, the not-so-young, and the elderly.
“The communication world is evolving daily, and it is no longer the same way we could reach our people in the 90s and 2000s as we can now. Young people consume less text; they prefer videos and audios. In fact, about 70% of our population is within the age range of 1 to 35 years.
“For the youth, we have developed tools that can easily reach them within their lifestyle patterns. Chief among them is our website, which is now artificial intelligence-enabled, making it easier for individuals to seek information about the government on the go.”
He added that NOA’s AI Voice/Chat Assistant, CLHEEAN, is an innovative tool designed to address the challenges of the new media landscape.
“CLHEEAN facilitates communication on various thematic issues such as crime, lawlessness, health, education, environment, abuse, and nationalism,” he disclosed.
