Mr Garba
Abari , Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), has appealed to
Nigerians to stop referring to Nigeria as `Najia’ to keep its originality.
Abari told
the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that the new trend of
making funky the original name of Nigeria was worrisome and not in the best
interest of the country.
“We try in
all our advocacy visits to insist that Nigeria must be referred to as Nigeria
and not Naija.
“So, our
schools have a role to play in this; the media itself has also got a very
fundamental role to play because it is the media that helps in the propagation
of this kind of misnomer.
“All of us,
as individuals, as corporate organisations, as media, whether broadcast, print
or online, must wake up to the reality.
“That the
more we use these misnomers referring to our country, the fallout of it is
that, a significant percentage of our younger ones will not even remember that
Nigeria is the original name of our country.
“I want to
appeal to all Nigerians, young and old to always refer to our country as
Nigeria.”
Abari also
urged parents to key into the efforts to preserve the country’s original name
by discouraging their children and wards from referring to Nigeria as `Naija’.
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