The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has decried the inappropriate treatment being meted to national symbols in Nigeria.

The Sokoto state Director of the agency, Alhaji Abubakar Danchadi, said this in Sokoto on Wednesday at the 4th Annual Commemoration of Ordinance Day.

Danchadi listed the affected national symbols as the National Flag, the Coat-of-Arms, National Pledge and the National Anthem.

“The inappropriate treatment meted to our national symbols needs to be addressed. National symbols are significant to the nation, because they represent our ideals and aspirations as a people.

“They are also insignia of authority and instruments of State Power and the rallying focus of calls to patriotism and national duty,” Danchadi added.

According to him, to protect the national symbols from abuse, Section 5 of the Flag and Coat-Of-Arms Ordinance, No. 48 of 1960 stipulates that any person who flies or exhibits the National Flag in a defaced or bad condition shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance.

“Again, Chapter 2, Section 2x ( a) of the 1999 constitution, as amended, enjoins all Nigerians to respect the National Flag, the National Anthem, The National Pledge and Legitimate Authority,’’ he said.

The director further lamented that the National Flag is the most widely abused as it is subjected to various unwholesome forms of abuse.

This offence, he explained, was being committed not only in private premises, but even on premises of government establishments which “ought to know better.”

“Banks and other financial organisations and automobile dealers, among others, are guilty of their violations.

“These abuses include flying faded, tattered or defaced National Flags, hoisting and flying smaller-sized National Flags, using it for adverts and burying the deceased with it, among others,” Danchadi noted.

He called on governmental and non-governmental organisations in the country to give the national symbols the respect they deserved. Danchadi further explained that the day was being marked to promote the image of the nation, encourage highest level of patriotism and encourage respect for the national symbols.