By Atoyebi Nike
The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Lanre Issa-Onilu, says Nigeria’s worsening security and governance challenges stem from the country’s long-standing failure to build a shared national identity.
Speaking at the inauguration of an NOA-NUC committee to embed national values in university curricula, Issa-Onilu said Nigeria still operates as competing ethnic and religious groups rather than a unified nation. He warned that recent debates in the U.S. Congress underscore the consequences of neglecting national cohesion for decades.
He highlighted the National Values Charter part of the Nigerian Identity Project as a major step toward restoring civic values, trust, and integrity. The Charter spells out what citizens owe the country and what the government must guarantee in return.
Heritage and Citizenship Studies are already compulsory in primary and secondary schools, and universities will now adopt similar value-based courses through their General Studies programme.
NUC official Florence Onuoha urged capacity-building for lecturers to ensure effective implementation.
