The Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Mike Omeri, has hailed the people of Ogori community for the age-long culture of preserving chastity of its women before marriage.
Mr Paul Odenyi, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja.
Omeri, who was at the event of the 2013 Ovia Osese Ogori day celebration, a yearly festival of the people of Ogori land in Ogori-Mogongo Local Government Area of Kogi praised the community for the effort.
Omeri, who was conferred with the honorary title of Ogben Weda, meaning “father of the youth of Ogori land’’, said he was fascinated to witness the cultural festival.
He said that culture would always remain the custodian of any nation’s values.
“It is our belief in NOA that culture is generally known to be the custodian of these salient values; transforming Nigeria will ultimately require inculcating the right attitudes in our people,’’ he said.
He stressed that the agency was mandated to uphold the tenets of the national values and ethics in the same way that festivals such as the Ovia osese tended to achieve.
The state governor, Capt. Idris Wada, represented by his deputy, Mr Yomi Awoniyi affirmed that the honour on Omeri was a well deserved one, saying that NOA had enthroned acceptable values and norms.
