The Federal Government through the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Dr. Garba Abari, has lamented over the increasing rise in homosexuality.
Gay men
The Federal Government says social values have been eroded, adding that Nigerian youths have embraced same sex marriage.
The government said some youths had even staged a protest before the National Assembly for the repeal of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act which prescribes a 14-year jail term for anyone who enters into a gay marriage.
The Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Dr. Garba Abari, said this during a programme titled, ‘Anti-Corruption: The Role of Media as Change Agents’ in Abuja on Saturday.
The programme was organised by the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria. The NOA boss also urged youths to stop wearing dreadlocks and saggy trousers.
He said, “The wearing of tattoos, dreadlocks, sagging trousers and the painting of hair have become a vogue among our young men and women.
“Our youths are now publicly clamouring for the legalisation of gay marriage and are about to boldly take the campaign to the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly to press for it as a fundamental human right.”
Abari urged the media to continue to lead the way in the process of nationhood.
He said the media had become a tool for division and divisive rhetorics which he described as unfortunate.
The NOA boss added, “Just stop and ponder on the stories that adorn the front pages of the nation’s newspapers today. Many of such newspapers are not only divisive but abusive and deliberately mischievous, purposely distorted to promote disharmony. The same can be said of the electronic media.”
He urged Nigerians to shun corruption even as he noted that corruption was not only among the elite but also the poor.
Also speaking, the pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, called on the media to be at the forefront of the anti-graft war.
He said it was unfortunate that corrupt persons were using the media to frustrate the anti-graft war.