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The director general of National Orientation Agency (NOA) Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu has taken the recently launched National Values Charter to the Lagos International Festival of Animation, LIFANIMA.
Speaking to more than 120 children during the festival’s Kids’ Fun Day at Animation Park, the DG told the children to imbibe positive habits and commit to being good children so that they could grow up to be exemplary citizens. After the children flawlessly rendered all three stanzas of the nation anthem, the obviously elated DG said he had confidence that the nation’s future was secured.
At the festival’s Animation Awards, the DG explained the vision and objectives behind the new Federal Government Policy of Nationalisation of Cartoon Content, which is to stem the current trend of breeding new generations of ‘foreigners’, due to the overwhelming influence of foreign cartoons on our children and the disconnection with our core values as a people.
According to him, animation has become a significant tool for government communication especially as it targets the more than 75 percent youth population of the country. He explained that Nigerian animators could also use this opportunity to tap into the huge budgetary allocation for communication by government at various levels across the various MDAs, noting that the Agency is ready to work with animators.
In his opening remarks, the founder and festival director of LIFANIMA, Mr. Muyiwa Kayode, explained that the festival began in 2016 after the launch of his animation brand, Turtle Taido, in 2015. This made it the first animated cartoon series for children on Nigerian television. The series has since given birth to the Turtle Taido Game Show, which is currently airing Season 6.
LIFANIMA is Nigeria’s premier animation film festival and now one of the top three in Africa. The 2024 edition had 1,106 submissions from 111 countries, including 26 African countries.
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