The National Orientation Agency has called for a strategic partnership with the National Sports Commission to leverage the unifying power of sports in promoting patriotism, national cohesion, unity, and national identity among Nigerians.

Lanre Issa-Onilu, the NOA director-general, made the call during a courtesy visit with his management team to Shehu Dikko, chairman of the NSC, on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Issa-Onilu congratulated Mr Dikko on the progressive innovations he has brought to the NSC and the sports sector. He emphasised the unique ability of sports to unite the nation.

“We want to leverage the unifying effect that sports have on Nigerians. A lot of people tend to emphasise our fault lines; things that divide and separate us,” Mr Issa-Onilu stated.

He highlighted how national sports events revealed a deep-seated love for Nigeria.

“At NOA, in spite of the fault lines, we believe that Nigerians love Nigeria, and that love can be seen during international sports and competitions between Nigeria and other countries.

“Nigerians don’t want to know if it is a Christian, Muslim, Igbo, Hausa, or Yoruba that scores the goal to make Nigeria win, and that desire for Nigeria to win can be transformed into other sectors of the country. That is the foundation upon which national cohesion and unity can be built,” said the NOA chief.

The NOA boss articulated their intent, saying, “So, the NOA looks at leveraging the successes achieved, especially in international sport events, to build stories about our resilience, our capacity, and our place in the committee of nations. We want to partner with NSC and to work with you very closely to ensure that sports are used to promote patriotism and national cohesion.”

Mr Issa-Onilu also introduced Mr Dikko to the National Identity Project, a key initiative championed by President Bola Tinubu.

He stressed that sports provided an ideal platform for NOA to promote this project and its “overriding National Value Charter, a reciprocal commitment of the National Promise and Citizens Code’’.

He also addressed a notable observation regarding national pride among athletes.

“We also noticed that some of our athletes usually struggle to sing or recite the national anthem. So, we brought 5,000 copies of the national anthem to encourage them to be familiar and recite it with pride and patriotism,” Mr Issa-Onilu said.

(NAN)