••• As NOA Warns Parents on ‘Abuse of Academics’
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has raised alarm over what it described as “unwholesome and extreme graduation practices” among Nigerian students, vowing to clamp down on the trend through a nationwide values re-orientation campaign.
Speaking at a press conference in Akure on Monday to unveil a new sensitisation drive, the Director-General of NOA, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, decried the sign-out culture that has become common in secondary schools and tertiary institutions.
According to Issa-Onilu, represented by Dr Olukemi Afolayan, Director Civic, Values and Democracy Education
NOA, what should be a modest celebration of academic success has been corrupted into “indecent and harmful practices,” including students stripping off their shirts in public, allowing peers to scribble offensive messages on sensitive parts of their bodies, and in some cases, degenerating into outright nudity.
“It is not only indecent, it is morally corrosive. Our children are being exposed to dangerous cultural imports disguised as fun. We cannot allow a generation to grow up thinking that public indecency is an acceptable way to celebrate success,” Issa-Onilu said.
The NOA boss also turned his attention to what he termed “academic abuse” in Nigerian primary schools.
He condemned the rising culture of organising elaborate graduation ceremonies for pupils moving from kindergarten to primary levels or from junior classes to senior classes.
He lamented that parents, in a bid to keep up with neighbours, now borrow money to rent gowns and host parties for children who are simply being promoted to the next class, only to be stranded when it is time to pay school fees in the new term.
The Agency revealed that its advocacy has already yielded results, with some state governments banning graduation parties at primary school level. It urged more states to follow suit to save parents from unnecessary financial burdens and protect the sanctity of the educational process.
Issa-Onilu assured that the nationwide campaign will be taken to schools, markets, motor parks, and traditional rulers, with the aim of restoring decency, discipline, and cultural pride in Nigerian society.
