NOA condemns mercedes-benz skit mocking Nigerian civil servants
National Orientation Agency NOA
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, has condemned a viral video skit promoting the 2023 Mercedes-Benz C300 for making belittling remarks about Nigerian civil servants.
The skit featured the car’s Artificial Intelligence responding to the question “Can civil servants afford you?” with the reply, “No! Maybe in 2062,” a comment the NOA described as offensive and insensitive.
Issa-Onilu in a statement he signed on Sunday, stressed that civil servants play a crucial role in providing the enabling environment for businesses to thrive and should not be spoken about in condescending terms.
He said, “Civil servants across sectors are the ones who work hard to provide enabling environment for businesses like yours to thrive and prosper. It is therefore indecent to speak condescendingly about Nigerian civil servants who spend many years of their lives dedicated to driving the machinery of government so that businesses like yours can thrive for the benefit of national development”.
He further cautioned content creators to be mindful of their words to avoid hurting the sensibilities of Nigerians, underscoring the importance of valuing dignity of labour over materialism.
“We want to caution that you mind your choice of words whenever you are promoting your vehicles for sale so that you do not hurt the sensibilities of any segment of Nigerians,” he added.
