Today 27th August 2024, representatives of the HERFON Consortium working on the AHBN - sponsored project supporting health security in Nigeria, paid an advocacy visit to the National Orientation Agency (NOA)

The Director General (DG) of the NOA and Directors under the agency were introduced to the consortium members present.
The Chairman BOT of HERFON - Dr Idris Muhammad introduced other members of the consortium from HERFON and GHI.

Using the Advocacy Brief distributed to attendees, the Program Manager of HERFON introduced the ongoing health security project and emphasized the need for NOA to better work closely with the NCDC, the coordinating agency of health security in Nigeria, especially in the area of risk communication to reaching the nook and cranny of the country. He iterated that the NOA is positioned to support the NCDC strategic communication especially in enlightening the public on endemic and epidemic diseases.

In his response, the DG explained that the NOA since 2024 has started restrategizing it's implementation processes despite inadequate funding. He agreed that a lot needs to be done in collaboration with other MDAs, CSOs and stakeholders because aside from the fatality reported on some highly infectious diseases, Nigeria also loses investors and tourists who avoid our country.

He further stated that the NOA has offices in 812 locations across the 36 states and the FCT. Moreover, platforms such as the Artificial Intelligence - Voice and Text Assistance has been built by the NOA where an entity called KLIN responds to questions and queries from the public.
The NOA has also generated a comprehensive database of artisans through which they are being engaged across the country. This will be extended to religious and traditional associations, private sector organizations, CSOs etc later. According to the DG, these platforms are necessary because less than 40% of Nigerians are on social media and even less have access to the mainstream media.

On inadequate funding for optimal implementation, the DG explained that the NCDC needs to better take advantage of the NOA. The NCDC has resources for communication, but do not have the kind of structure and capacity NOA has in passing relevant health security information to the grassroots.
Without adequate funding, NOA is a barrel of gun without bullets, thus the need to get the support of HERFON Consortium to continuously engage.

The meeting ended with the DG presenting a plaque he referred to as the National Value Charter. He said this is an agreement between the government and the citizens to uphold certain values listed in the plaque.