Garba
Abari, Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), has appealed to
Nigerians to stop referring to Nigeria as “Najia” to keep its originality.
Mr. 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,” he said.
“I want to appeal to
all Nigerians, young and old to always refer to our country as Nigeria.
Mr. 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”.
-NAN
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