National Orientation Agency: an Effective Tool to Social and Political Development of Nigeria

It is unarguable that Nigeria’s democratic experience since independence has not been wonderful. A lot of factors have been adduced as being responsible for the poor performance of Nigeria’s political governance. Findings have shown that among other things, the lack of an effective tool to social and political development of Nigeria have significantly served as a gulf between the government and the governed thereby imperilling the country. An effective tool to social and political development of Nigeria serve as a bridge which connects the ordinary masses to the governmental processes and harnesses their competences towards building a viral, durable and stable political entity which as a matter of fact facilitates development. Given the paucity of an effective tool to social and political development of Nigeria, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) was created to undertake this important National assignment. The activities of the National Orientation Agency with regards to its mandate have received no serious or adequate attention by social and political historians. This study thus, appraises the efforts of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the task of an effective tool to social and political development of Nigeria. Data for the study came through primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include oral interviews, NOA’s publications, Annual Reports and monographs; while the secondary sources include textbooks, journal articles magazines and so on. Paulo Fiere’s Conscientization Theory was employed as a framework for the study; the thematic and analytic methods of History were used in the presentation of the study. The position of the study is that the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is an important organization in the country’s democratic system and thus, it should be given all necessary support to continue to carry out the task of an effective tool to social and political development in a country where more than 60% of the citizens are illiterates.