NOA Should Be Involved In The Awareness Campaign Against Spread of Covid 19- Report Says

By AbuSatar Hamed

National Orientation Agency (NOA) formerly known as Mass Mobilization for Self Reliance, Social Justice And Economic Recovery (MAMSER) is a government agency solely assigned with the statutory responsibility of dissemination of government programmes and policies to the public.

Put in a proper perspective, NOA create awareness campaign by means of effective mobilization and sensitization of the public with the aim of swaying public opinion in supporting government programmes and policies.

They also provide a feed back mechanism of availing the government with people’s opinions about its policies as of whether they gained public acceptance and support.

However, a section of the wary public have raised eyebrow as regards the apparent inaction of the once virile government agency. Special mention was made of the ravaging Covid-!9 pandemic of which the agency was expected to have played a vital role in the aspect of effective enlightenment and awareness campaign, but rather have fallen short of expectation.

An encounter with a senior official of the agency who wants to remain anonymous however revealed the contrary that the agency wasn’t captured in the task force by the NCDC.

A concerned public opinion moulder, queried the non-inclusion of the all important agency in the task force of the NCDC, given the fact that NOA is adequately represented in all the 774 local governments across entirety of the nation, including the FCT.

According to him it will amount to a great disservice to thee of the ravaging pandemic finally he called for adequate provision of logistics to end ensure that the whole nation especially the hard to reach areas.

According to the said official,who claimed to be active on the field as at the time of compiling this report,lamented on the lack of fund and logistics much needed for effective mobilization.

It is has been the practice for the workers to make sacrifice of using their personal resources to carry out official functions. put in summary,the bane of the agency is not unconnected with inadequate funding by the govt.

Finally, he enjoined public spirited individuals, public corporations and NGOs to complement govt efforts by contributing through cash and kinds towards ensuring the curb of the pandemic. It will be noted that NOA’s effective sensitization and awareness campaign is much needed at this critical moment to stem the spread of the deadly pandemic.

*AbuSatar Hamed is a Journalist and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, StarTrend Int’l magazine.