The Federal Government has urged Nigerians to seek permission before using the national anthem.
A statement by the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu on Wednesday, said seeking permission was necessary to avoid misinterpretation.
He further announced that press conferences will be held across all states to initiate the sensitisation campaign on the agency’s new policies.
He, however, did not state in what context permission should be sought before the anthem could be sung, or its lyrics could be used. “As custodians of Nigeria’s national symbols, the NOA is tasked with preventing all forms of misuse. The DG emphasised that permission must be sought from the Agency before using the National Anthem to avoid misrepresentation,” the statement partly read.
He also clarified that the Nigerian flag is simply green, white, and green, with the correct shade of green being Emerald 2.0.
He noted the transformation from the neglected state in which he met the agency, citing key achievements such as the establishment of audio-visual studios, the launch of an optimised NOA website featuring the CLHEEAN-NOA Artificial Intelligence voice and chat assistant, and the recent approval of institutionalisation policies by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), all with the full support of President Bola Tinubu.
The DG explained that previous administrations focused solely on infrastructure development while neglecting the critical role of value orientation, leading to the decline of social intervention structures like the Boys’ Scouts, Girls’ Brigade, WAI Brigade, and even the National Orientation Agency itself.
