Following his appointment as Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari has resumed duties at the Agency with a commitment that NOA under his watch will urgently pursue attitudinal and institutional reorientation of Nigeria towards achieving the objectives of governmrnt.
Speaking at a ceremony where he took over from the former Acting Director General of the Agency, Mrs. Ngozi Ekeoba, Abari said NOA must galvanize Nigerians in the journey towards attaining the nation's manifest destiny as the greatest black nation on earth, stressing that "the selling points for the greatness of this country are too obvious for us to despair".
In his words: "As we are all aware, fundamental changes are presently going on in this country. it is absolutely important for the public to be fully enlightened about these changes. This, I believe, is what will make the people to rally around the government in its efforts to confront the many challenges that these changes throw up. In realizing this, urgent attitudinal and institutional orientation is required.
"At the attitudinal level, we require the reorientation of the psyche and minds of Nigerians to trust their leaders and love their country, restore community spirit, be their brother's keeper, uphold family values, be law abiding and set a minimum standard of behavior for themselves. At the institutional level, the challenge is the restoration of the structure and quality of government and private institutions for service delivery.
"An important ingredient of this process is to ensure that Nigerians imbibe the necessary values of patriotism, national pride, sense of national oneness, hard work, integrity, accountability and respect for the rule of law. Our task in the NOA is therefore clearly cut out for us".
Abari therefore called for rededication on the part of the Agency's staff in carrying out the critical responsibility of raising the awareness level of Nigerians on the issues of security and terrorism.
Born on the 15th of December, 1955, Abari hails from Yobe State where he had his early education at the Central Primary School and Fika Government Secondary School in Potiskum. He holds a Ph.D in Political Economy, two Master's degrees in International Relations and Political Economy respectively and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.
Abari is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Maiduguri with a total of 18 publications to his credit in both national and international journals. He is a member of the Nigerian Political Science Association, the African Political Science Association and the Nigerian Society of International Affairs as well as a founding member of African Anti-Imperialist Youth Front. He founded the Nigeria/South Africa Friendship Association in 1983, chairs the Independent Poverty Alleviation Initiative (IPAI-Nigeria) and is the National Coordinator, Anti-Debt Front.
The new NOA boss has been Executive Director, Abuja Policy Consulting Ltd and Basic Projects Ltd respectively and is a member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
Fidel Agu
Dep. Director, Press