Grounded vehicles, dilapidated buildings dot offices of ‘voiceless’ NOA

The handicap has made some people to tag it as ‘Voiceless Awareness Agency’ .

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) is an agency of the federal government charged to “consistently raise awareness, positively change attitudes, values, and behaviours; accurately and adequately inform, and sufficiently mobilize citizens to act in ways that promote peace, harmony”.

However, many have asked what role the agency has played in educating Nigerians on key government policies and public programmes such as preventive meansures on COVD-19. The handicap has made some people to tag it as ‘Voiceless Awareness Agency’ . Daily Trust took a look at some of the activities of NOA across the nation.

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With offices across the 774 local government areas and wards in the country, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) prides itself as the only organ of the government with a spread and capacity for public enlightenment and sensitization campaigns. These campaigns are made possible with over 5, 000 staff making it better positioned to take the policies of the government to the grassroots.

Investigations by Daily Trust showed the agency remains voiceless due to lack of funding and operational equipment.

The challenges bedevilling the agency showed on the perceived silence of the agency when Nigerians need to be acquainted with government policies, directives, and actions. The seeming information gap by Nigerians during the outbreak of coronavirus and biometric capturing of Nigerians by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) tell more about the docile activities of the agency.

The main objectives of the Agency, as provided in Decree 100 of 1993, are to ensure that government programmes and policies are better understood by the public and mobilize favourable public opinion for such programmes and policies.

Two vehicles for 30 Local Government Areas

The Osun State NOA office has two serviceable vehicles to cover the 30 Local Government Areas in the state. There are also short staffed with two officers for each local government area. The agency headquarters is situated in Osogbo, the state capital. It was gathered that the agency is poorly funded, lack good furniture and poor electricity supply.

Ajibola Emmanuel, a student of Federal Polytechnic, Offa, said they do not know about the operation of the agency.

“I have not heard of NOA and I don’t know what they do. I have never seen NOA officials, and I don’t know what it is all about,” Mrs Adeloye Mary, a trader in Osogbo also said.

Another resident, Mrs Nafisat Marindoti, a graduate noted, “I feel ashamed that I don’t know NOA. I think I have heard that name somewhere, but I don’t know what they do. I will search for it and read about it”

The NOA Director in the state, Prince Lekan Adejobi said the agency has sensitised residents “adequately on COVID-19 pandemic and the need to observe all safety guidelines and stay safe.”

He said the agency is visible in every nook and cranny of the state and that it is also partnering with the state ministry of information and the media to educate people on relevant issues.

Not much work in Lagos

Daily Trust observed that the situation is not different in Lagos State, the commercial capital of Nigeria.

An Ikorodu resident, Adenike Omotoso said, “Apart from the days of MAMSER (an acronym for Mass Mobilization for Self-Reliance, Social Justice, and Economic Recovery) when I was young, I have not heard any of their messages.”

Adenike noted that many Lagos residents do not feel the impact of the agency. She disclosed that she knows about the agency, “because they share office space where I work. Other than that, I don’t see their work that much”.

Omotoso said the agency needs orientation and enlightenment on its job descriptions.

The State Director at the Lagos office, Mr Waheed Ishola, however, maintained that the agency has delivered its mandate of publicizing government policies and activities and also provide the feedback mechanism of the feelings of the people to the government.

“We have the officers that speak the languages of various communities and we have been able to pass across messages as fast as possible to people even those living in the rural area,” he said.

He, however, noted that they have funding challenges, “There is no agency in government that is adequately funded, but we could do more if we have enough funds for the basic logistics to work. We need funds for our vehicles, megaphones, although we have been able to think out of the box to ensure that the difficulties in funding do not affect our mandate to the people,” he said.

Not too conducive environment in Ekiti

There are mixed feelings about the activities of the NOA in Ekiti State. While some residents commended them, others think they have not done well in carrying out their mandate.

A resident, Mr Adegbuyi Ayodele, said the impact of NOA has not been felt in sensitization, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, though another resident, Adekunle Bamidele, commended the agency in sensitization of government programmes, but noted that for COVID-19, they have not done well.

Daily Trust discovered that the agency lacks a functional van while staff work in a not too conducive environment. There were no fans, laptops, cameras among others.

However, it was learnt that the staff visit markets, churches, schools, mosques, palaces and organise town hall meetings among others.

Dwindling assets in Kano

An old structure houses the Kano office of NOA along Bello Kano terrace in the GRA. Two packed-up vehicles and a generating set are among the dwindling assets of the agency in the state.

A staff who pleaded to be anonymous said the office was only managing to exist due to paucity of funds.

“You can see some of our vehicles and building. We have offices at all the 44 LGA but you can imagine how they are given what is obtained at the state office,” the staff said. The only operational vehicle in the state is a Toyota Hiace which some staff installed a public address system to sensitise residents. State officials were not readily available for comment.

The NOA has offices in all the 23 local government areas in Kaduna State.  Our correspondent further gathered that each office in the LGA has between seven and 10 staff while offices in the urban centres, including Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Chikun and Igabi have between 11 and 12 staff.

Daily Trust reports that the effect of the manpower is not felt by residents in rural areas. Many of them, our correspondent gathered, do not see the need to register for the ongoing National Identity Number currently being done by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) because they feel it is the same type of registration they underwent some 20 years ago.

All hands on deck in Kaduna

A resident of Ikara Local Government Area (LGA) who spoke with our correspondent said, “Many residents of the local government cannot differentiate between the National Identity Card registration that was done about 20 years ago which was scrapped and the one presently ongoing.”

According to him, “There has been no enlightenment about the registration in the rural areas and that is why people are not bothered to undergo the registration because they do not know what is at stake for them.”

When contacted, the State Director, NOA, Kaduna, Galadima Zubairu Soba said the agency has been making efforts to ensure that people come out en masse to register for the National Identity Number and particularly to ensure that they link it with their phone lines.

He said the agency has been using its various platforms and strategies to ensure that people get to know about necessary information.

He added, “We are using our War against Indiscipline Brigade volunteers, as well as our implementation partners, ensure people are aware and they are critical stakeholders in the communities consisting religious and community and traditional rulers, youth groups, community-based associations, faith-based associations, women groups, and our own network of children that we call change agents.”

Rented shops, dilapidated furniture

Yobe residents also expressed concern that NOA activities reduce by the day. A resident, Mallam Garba Sani from Gashu’a said the agency was proactive during the military regime.

He recalled that its officials used to move through nooks and crannies to disseminate government policies and carry out sensitization on issues ranging from health, sanitation among others.

Muhammad Aliyu in Damaturu observed that most of the exercises hitherto carried out by NOA is currently overtaken by the advancement of information technology because people don’t have to be engaged like before.

He, however, said people at the grassroots level need to be enlightened by NOA, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A check by our correspondent on the state of NOA offices in the 17 LGA’s of Yobe state showed that many were using single office allocated in the local government secretariats, while others use rented private shops with dilapidated furniture.

When contacted the NOA state Director, Ali Audu admitted the anomalies, stressing that the agency was going through funding and logistics challenges.

He explained that with little funding the agency has partnered with traditional rulers on many issues and is presently conducting sensitization on the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the staff who doesn’t want to be named said, “We are operating with only one functional vehicle in the whole state, but unlike other federal agencies, we are yet to receive any donation of vehicle from the state government even after making several attempts”

From Hameed Oyegbade, Osogbo; Risikat Ramoni & Momodu Precious, Lagos; Raphael Ogbonnaiye, Ado-Ekiti; Habibu Umar Aminu, Kano; Maryam Ahmadu-Suka, Kaduna; Ibrahim Baba Saleh, Damaturu; Iniabasi Umo, Uyo; Taiwo Adeniyi, Abuja