The National Orientation Agency has called on all Nigerians to love and promote the values and cultures of diverse elements that make up the country.
The Federal Government’s agency also warned against speaking badly of the country, saying all hands must be on deck to move the country forward without any political consideration.
The Director-General of the NOA, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, stated this at a stakeholders/town hall meeting on the National Anthem and National Values Charter, held in Akure, the state capital, on Thursday.
Represented by the Director of Reforms Coordination and Service Improvement at the NOA headquarters in Abuja, Mrs Olorunfemi Olubukola, the DG emphasised that the love of a country should not depend on the performance of a government in power.
He added that the lyrics of the new national anthem have indicated patriotism, which must be adopted by all Nigerians.
He said, “We must begin to emphasise the sense of patriotism. The words/lyrics of the National Anthem work up empathy and patriotism for the country. It is speaking to the individual. The love of a country must not depend on the performance of a government at times.
“You must love your country in and out of season at all times. You must endure; we have no other country and the country is richly endowed with both human and material resources. We must never condemn, curse, or speak evil against our country. Words have power.
“These factors are being put together to return to our roots; it is our land of birth, our own; we are looking for a way to cohere, the easiest way to exist together with a call to duty. Let us downplay politics. ”
The DG, who explained that the new national anthem had brought back the nostalgic feeling of how the nation was at independence, described it as a patriotic musical composition symbolising and evoking eulogies of the history and tradition of a country.
“We had leaders then, the narrative that was uppermost at the time was that we have different cultures but we are brothers; we are Nigerians—no matter the differences we have, we are brothers. It emphasises what many have advocated for: that it be brought back because it addresses our contemporary issues.
“The President is concerned with the issues of national cohesion, building a sense of national unity for national development and projecting Nigeria into the country in which it ought to be within the comity of nations and the African Continent,” he added.
