- The National Orientation Agency on Monday warned Nigerian universities against awarding certificates to persons with questionable character.
The National Orientation Agency on Monday warned Nigerian universities against awarding certificates to persons with questionable character.
The Director General of NOA, Dr Garba Abari, gave the warning at a town hall meeting on inter-religious and intercultural dialogue and launch of training manual for religious leaders on promoting peace in the age of social media which held in Jos on Monday .
Abari ,who was the special guest at the event organised by the African Centre for Media and Information Centre, lamented that the award of certificates to persons with dubious character had caused great damage to the country’s quest for peace and nation building .
He said “ The universities must emphasize character in the award of certificates. If you award degree certificate to someone with first class but without character, it is dangerous for nation building and that is why NOA has deemed it fit to take the campaigns to our higher institutions in our quest for societal peace and progress.”
The Director General, who was represented by the Plateau state Director of NOA, Mr Bulus Dabit, noted that both Christian and Muslims leaders had great roles to play in order to rid the society of vices.
He pointed out that as a people who play leading and guiding roles in their societies, there was the need for them to always expose criminals in their amidst as well as develop media and information literacy competencies in line with modern realities .
Coordinator of African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Dr Chido Onumah, noted that although Nigeria society was greatly polarised along a variety of fault lines, none threatened the peace and stability of the country more than religion.
He pointed out that government response to the rising tension in the country by trying to pass a law to regulate the social media would not solve the problem.
He said, “What the country needs to address the challenge is more education and empowerment of its citizens. There is the urgent need to use media and information literacy in this era of information and communication technology and internet revolution as a tool to change the behaviour of opinion moulders in the society.”
