The Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) Garba Abari has appealed to all Nigerians irrespective of Religious, Tribal and Political affiliations to join hands to build a strong, united and virile country noting that great cities and civilizations were never built in a single day.
Abari made this call at the 9th National Development Summit of Traditional Rulers in Abuja. The Summit with the theme “ Rediscovering Family Potentials Towards Societal Redefinement” according to Abari is apt and capable of setting the pace of our nation’s greatness, adding that family is the basic unity of the society, the laboratory in which everyone of us is moulded.
The NOA boss noted that all nations derive their identities from entrenched values which are transmitted from generation to generation by families which gives the strength and historical direction towards greatness for individuals and countries generally.
He said that with the high dependency rate and extended family ideals in our nation which came to be as result of our cultures and norms gives the family a great and huge task in the development of a modern society, pointing out that for this task to be achieved, a critical look at family values becomes necessary.
In his words: “Our ethics, values and world view are impacted significantly by the family we are raised in, good families largely produce good citizens”.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Summit Governing Council, His Royal Majesty, Emmanuel Sideo Abe said that royal fathers must support government reforms that are aimed at making our education and economy more expansive, rather than relying on import based economy in spite of our enormous untapped human and material resources.
Abe urged traditional rulers to join in the campaign for transparency and accountability in public affairs which he said is crucial towards renewing the people’s confidence in leadership.
The National Development Summit of Traditional Rulers was inaugurated in 2008 by late President Musa Yar’Adua to foster friendship among traditional rulers to boost national peace, unity and development.