The National Orientation Agency (NOA), says the agency will use the theatre approach to ensure proper reorientation of Nigerians and to fast-track development in the country.
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Mr Mike Omeri, the Director-General of the agency, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
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He said the people at the grassroots tended to identify more with drama and always appeared to be retentive of the values expressed in it.
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Omeri also said the agency would use a similar method to communicate with those living in the urban areas, adding that those at the motor parks and markets would be targeted by the agency
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He said it was necessary for Nigerians to change their attitudes, especially their perception of the country, saying: “We must all be involved in lifting Nigeria from the doldrums”.
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The NOA boss gave the assurance that the agency would not relent in its effort to reorient Nigerians on their perception of the country.
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He called on the state offices of the agency to brace up to the challenges reorienting Nigerians for the overall development of the country.
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“Our agencies in the states must show their relevance and once you show your relevance, funding is a function of idea, state governments will come, individuals will come. Our platform is there; it’s robust.
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“So with this kind of things, we are introducing a lot of turnaround in the agency; so we are going to bring our information officers -? trained; we are also supposed to go out there and get stories; so we have information officers for the purpose of programme implementation.
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“And apart from that, recently we trained people in community theatre because we have also found out that it is an effective way of letting the message stay in the community.
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“If you go to the motor park, for instance, and get those people in the motor park to simulate what happens or what causes road accident it relates with them because they are the ones that generate the idea, they dramatise it right there in the motor park
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“If you go and meet a group of women and you educate them on lassa fever and you get them to act it out, this thing lives in their houses, by the time you leave they have it in the community: so this is the platform we are establishing.”
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According to Omeri, most of the activities of the agency are focused on the rural areas.
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He said: “In the villages, there is the opportunity to interact with the people. The agency is taking government to the people; we are taking issues to the people. It is not enough to stay in the city.”
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He called on all Nigerians not to lose faith in the country and the leadership as no country was without problems. (NAN)