The Cross River State Directorate of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) exemplifies the agency’s civic mobilization mandate, writes Sola Thomas
When the National Orientation Agency (NOA) Cross River State Directorate welcomed the 2023 batch of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Obubra, it was clear that the interaction was not going to be a regular one. The speeches delivered were not mere protocol, while the pamphlets handed out were not just for casual reading. They were conceived as blueprints for a civic movement in the making.
Since 2023, the Cross River Directorate of the NOA has embarked on a dynamic journey to turn NYSC members into frontline civic ambassadors. At a time when trust in institutions is fragile and misinformation spreads faster than facts, NOA has chosen to see young corps members not as temporary visitors, but as powerful conduits for civic renewal in the state.
“Every corps member is a potential change agent,” said an NOA official in Calabar. “If we equip them with the right knowledge and purpose, they become amplifiers of truth and unity in communities that need them most.”
The process begins at the orientation camp. From the first week of the NYSC Orientation Exercise in Obubra, NOA officers are a constant presence, delivering lectures as well as facilitating discussions on national values, civic responsibility, and the urgent need for youth-led engagement. The NOA’s signature camp programme, “Know Your Country, Serve It Right”, uses interactive modules to teach corps members about the Nigerian Constitution, national symbols, public ethics, and the dangers of fake news. Role-plays, civic quizzes, and debates bring the sessions alive, often culminating in the formation of Civic Vanguards, a select group of corps members tasked with leading civic outreach in their places of primary assignment (PPAs).
Once deployed across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state, corps members do not just teach in classrooms or assist in clinics, they become part of NOA’s community mobilisation network. In schools from Ogoja to Akamkpa, and health centres in Boki and Biase, they help facilitate town hall meetings, environmental awareness campaigns, and voter education drives.
The NOA also assigns corps members to support its flagship grassroots programme, the “Citizens First” Civic Engagement Series, acting as translators, facilitators, and field reporters during community dialogues.
“I thought I came here just to serve,” said Omolola Adebayo, a corps member deployed to Ikom. “But NOA showed me how to serve with meaning. Now I’m helping teenagers understand their rights and responsibilities. It’s empowering for them and for me.”
In 2024, as misinformation around government policies, student loans, and food inflation grew in intensity, the NOA turned to NYSC members. Under the “Fact Not Fear” campaign, corps members were trained as grassroots fact-checkers. Armed with smartphones and simplified civic toolkits, they conducted community sensitization in markets, churches, and motor parks, distributing flyers and countering false narratives, often in Pidgin English.
Corps members stationed in LGAs like Abi, Yakurr, and Etung became vital informants in NOA’s feedback loop, reporting local sentiments back to headquarters and helping to shape more targeted messaging.
With Cross River State’s ecological heritage both a treasure and a responsibility, the NOA’s “Green Cross River” campaign found committed allies in the NYSC corps members, many of whom led school tree-planting initiatives and clean-up campaigns in their various places of primary assignment. In Obudu and Odukpani, corps members created student eco-clubs and designed skits to teach primary pupils about the dangers of bush burning and illegal logging. Others collaborated with the Ministry of Environment on local radio programmes, discussing sustainable practices in their host communities.
With the state’s rich mix of ethnic groups and occasional eruption of clashes among the youth in urban centres, corps members have also been playing key roles in NOA’s “Youth for Peace” and “Unity in Diversity” campaigns.
At cultural festivals and inter-faith gatherings, corps members staged dramas and recitations on national unity, tolerance, and civic harmony, drawing applause from traditional rulers and faith leaders.
“It’s one thing to preach peace,” said Chief Eyo Eyo of Akpabuyo. “It’s another to see a young Yoruba girl in NYSC uniform reciting proverbs in Efik, telling our sons to shun violence. That’s when the message truly sinks in.”
As part of NOA’s digital transformation, corps members have also been instrumental in piloting the NOA Mobiliser App, conducting digital surveys and submitting community feedback in real time. Several have taken to social media—Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp—to share civic tips, host local trivia competitions, and celebrate local heroes promoting unity.
These platforms have become hubs of engagement, with corps members producing short videos on issues ranging from PVC registration to public health, often going viral within their host local government areas.
As each batch of corps members completes their service year, many leave behind more than photos and memories. Some have founded civic clubs in schools. Others have launched WhatsApp advocacy groups still active long after passing out. A few have stayed behind, joining NGOs and agencies to continue the work they began during service.
“I thought I’d just be marking time,” said Johnson Nwokolo, who served in Calabar South. “But working with NOA showed me what national service really means. I leave here more Nigerian than when I came.”
For the NOA Cross River State Directorate, corps members remain not just partners, but proof that when young people are trusted, trained, and given a voice, they can do a lot, starting with the mindsets of the communities they serve.
In an era of disconnection and doubt, the collaboration between NOA and NYSC in Cross River is quietly rebuilding public trust through civic awareness.
