The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has tasked residents of Kaduna State to uphold good values and exhibit good neighbourliness in order to achieve peace and security.
Zubair Gadima-Soba, the Kaduna State NOA Director, made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Igabi Local government area of the state.
He said “It is no longer worthwhile to just stay and not mind other people’s business. This a time we mind other people’s business because we want to live in peace.
” In the recent past, no stranger will come into community unannounced without the knowledge of the traditional leaders of the community, but these days we don’t even know our next-door neighbours.
“That is why strangers who are criminals will come into our community, stay and perpetrate all kind of crimes and nobody will know. No one knows when they came and what they do because we are busy minding our business.”
He said that the “mind my business” attitude Nigerians now often adopt had led to different menaces such as kidnapping, drug dealing, political thuggery, among others.
The director said Nigerians must uphold the good value cherished in the past, including respect for elders, hard work, discipline and good family name.
He noted that NOA recently conducted a sensitization programme aimed against kidnapping, thuggery, drug abuse, radicalization and violent extremism.
Galadima-Soba added that critical stakeholders such as traditional and religious leaders, women groups, youth groups, security personnel and others were all engaged.
He explained that kidnapping thrives because there were collaborators in the community who watch people’s ways of life and inform the criminals in exchange for monetary rewards.
He appealed to community members to keep eyes on people who do not have any tangible sources of income, but spend lavishly, adding that they might be kidnappers or informants to criminals. (NAN)
