By Gabriel Atumeyi
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has said it won’t relent in its efforts to sensitise Nigerians on the dangers of the novel Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country.
Speaking to 365Daily in Abuja, its director, Special Duties and State Operations, Mrs Mette Edekobi, said the agency has been working round the clock since the emergence of the virus in the country to dispel rumours, misinformation and conspiracy theories that have risen about it in the public space.
She said the agency has initiated series of programmes, activities and campaigns to counter the false narratives and support the government’s effort to get Nigerians do the right things in order to save lives and manage the situation.
She said: “When COVID-19 started, I think by February 28 last year, we had commence. Even when nobody was talking about it, we had called the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and asked what message should we tell the public because it is a technical thing. It is not like other issues.
“So, we needed the professionals to tell us and when they told us, we began talking about it and from that day we have not stopped talking. We have state directors in the 36 states and the FCT.
“And in the 774 Local Government Areas we have NOA officers and in no local government do we have less than two staff working there, and they are recruited from the locality and are accountable for the information they put out there.
“They engage traditional rulers as well as religious and community leaders. Sending letters and making physical visits. They are the Chief mobilization officers and some of them are even directors. Community mobilization is our strong point.
“The NOA also has the white brigade, which the public knows as the youth arm of the agency wearing the green and white uniform of the National Flag. Their job include going out and talking to people within their neighborhood.
“So, if you are taking about community, that is how it is done. Just because you have a particular way of getting information and news and you don’t get it that way, you believe that it didn’t happen elsewhere. We have always worked and we are still working.
“Also every quarter our staff make frequent visitations to broadcasting stations. We are all programme officers. And this is not the first time we are going out for school resumption advocacy. The first time schools resumed we were in the 774 local governments.
“In the last few quarters, every month we have sent our vehicles to states and communities bordering the FCT, where we know people dwell in and come to the FCT. We go there all the time to sensitize them. It is not everything we do we call the media because we think talking to the people is our mandate and if the message is getting to the people then we have done our job, but if the media does not capture it then we have not done our job in the eyes of the media. But also we have a strong and proactive social media handle with a large following.”
Edekobi also disclosed that the agency is preparing the ground so that Nigerians will be receptive to vaccination when the vaccines reach Nigeria.
“This week, the funds that have been sent out includes the conversation on the vaccine. Our conversation is to let the people know that a vaccine has been developed and the government has approved that the vaccine is okay. It will pass through all the relevant levels of testing locally as stated by the federal government and when it is time, the federal government will also through the institution that is responsible for the preservation of the vaccine and all that, let the public know, and for the public to know, the National Orientation Agency will also continue, so that is all the information that will go out for now.
“But when and how it will be done is not in the public domain and so there is no need to talk about that but to tell Nigerians that the federal government believes that the vaccine is good, that the vaccine can be helpful, that it will do a lot of good than harm. That the people should believe that their government is doing it in their best interest. That is the information we are putting out there”, she said.