The National Orientation Agency NOA has
appealed to Nigerians to desist from referring to
Nigeria as "Naija. Director General of the agency,
Garba Abari, made the appeal when he spoke at a
news conference in Abuja yesterday. According to
him, it is becoming worrisome that some
Nigerians are changing the original name of
Nigeria.

“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. I want to appeal to all
Nigerians, young and old to always refer to
our country as Nigeria"he said