By Rose Oranye
Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Law Mefor, Tuesday, received his co-psychologists from the Department of Psychology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), in his office at the Jerome Udoji Secretariat, Awka.
Addressing the commissioner during the visit, the Director of, the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Reduction (ICUDOR), Nigeria, and immediate past President of, the Nigerian Psychological Association, Prof. Michael Ezenwa, leader of the group, said the essence of the visit was to identify with the commissioner and see how they can collaborate with him and the government to improve governance in Anambra State.
Prof. Ezenwa described Mefor, who is also a journalist, as a practising psychologist with depth who never ceased to demonstrate love for the profession. He thanked Governor Chukwuma Soludo for spotting him.
“If there are responsibilities you want us to do for the government or your office, we’ll be willing to do that to ensure that both you and your principal succeed.
“This is our state, and the governor, Prof. Soludo, has demonstrated leadership. He has invested a lot in security architecture and infrastructure. I just wanted to tell you this without mincing words. Today, Uga, my own community, is having a road under construction. Soludo has brought a road into my community…We are not politicians; we are academics. We speak what we see,” Ezenwa said.
Also speaking, the Head of Psychology Department (HOD), UNIZIK, Prof. Chidozie Nwafor, explained that they have erudite professors who are experienced in research, psychoeducation, and everything that will make a state work in addressing behavioural change.
“We will be available 24/7 to participate, share ideas, and support the government of Anambra State, your ministry, and others to ensure that Anambra State progresses.”
Responding, Commissioner Mefor thanked them for identifying him as one of their own, adding that he has three degrees in psychology and that he started publishing the first psychologist magazine as a young psychologist and cannot afford to take psychology for granted.
“I’m always worried about the place of psychology in Nigeria and national development. It has been a cause of concern for me because I believe that psychology is grossly underutilised and possibly because psychologists haven’t been able to stake their position or prove what they can do. I believe that you don’t have to wait for opportunities; you create them. I wouldn’t want to say that psychology is shut out of our national life. We haven’t done enough to break into the mainstream.
“So every little opportunity we have such as this, we should try and demonstrate what psychology can do. I sincerely believe that we can do a lot together. Even before you called, I was already reaching out. There is work to be done, and luckily for psychology and psychologists in Nigeria, Prof. Soludo just created a purely psychological agency—the Anambra State Agency for Civic and Value Orientation. It’s a pure socio-psychological intervention agency. I have been thinking all along before the agency was created about 4-5 weeks ago. So you can break into the agency and help the man who is in charge there in fulfilling the mandate given to the agency by Governor Soludo. We should be able to pull collaboration around there. I am not sure if the agency is under my ministry, but it won’t matter.
“Many of our youths have lost their way in Anambra State, the South East, and Nigeria. So there is a need to launch full social rearmament campaigns, value reorientation, and moral rearmament campaigns with the information ministry and the new agency…,” Mefor said.
