As the nation grapples with the spate of destruction of public assets, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called for concerted effort by all Nigerians to preserve valuable assets of the nation.

The Director General of the Agency, Dr. Garba Abari made the call while unveiling a new programme of the Agency that seeks to create public awareness on the role of critical agencies in the protection and ownership of public and critical assets.

The Director of Special Duties, Mrs. Mette Edekobi who spoke on his behalf said such assets in the oil, transport, information and defence sectors need community ownership and protection to minimize budgetary expenses on infrastructure.

“The expectation has always been that communities where public infrastructures are located or through which they run would take ownership and protect such national infrastructure for the benefit of all. Unfortunately, this is hardly the case, as we continue to witness cases of vandalism of public property leading to increased replacement cost and depletion of available resources for investment into new infrastructure”, he said.

The NOA boss said the new public awareness programme on Preservation, Protection and Community Ownership of Public Assets and Critical Infrastructure was in line with the Agency’s mandate of sensitization, orientation and engendering public buy-in for government policies, programmes and activities. He said a National Forum where Heads of critical sectors will congregate to discuss the way forward will take place on Wednesday. Amongs those that will suggest a way out of the problem are Transport Minister, Rotimi Amechi, FCT Minister Mohammed Bello, Petroleum Minister of State, Ibeh Kachickwu, NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru among others.

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