Lai Mohammed

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, has urged state governments to take advantage of National Orientation Agency’s (NOA) robust platform for effective mass mobilisation and public sensitisation on government programmes.

Mohammed made this known in a statement signed by Mr Paul Odenyi, the Head Press Unit, NOA, and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.

The minister gave the advice at a meeting of all the information agencies at the Federal level and Commissioners for Information.

He said that the National Council on Information (NCI) had approved NOA’s request to train national and state assembly members on patriotism so as to increase citizens’ understanding of government activities, programmes and policies.

Mohammed said that NOA’s proposal for synergy between states on the use of the government’s “Change Begins with Me campaign’’ on state-owned media houses is with a view to achieving citizens’ engagement on the principles of the campaign.

He said that one of the memoranda that NOA presented was the adoption of the Agency’s Patriotism and Ethics First (PEF) programme as an induction training platform for parliamentarians at both Federal and state level.

He said that the Federal Executive Council, senior civil servants and some para-military organisations had already adopted the PEF.

“This is in a bid to underscore the need for public officers to imbibe basic patriotism education in the discharge of their functions.’’

He said that NCI also agreed that all Commissioners for Information should work with the NOA to activate all platforms for citizens’ engagement such as traditional rulers, religious organisations, Town Unions, among others.

(NAN)