National Institute For Cultural Orientation

The Honourable Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, High Chief Edem Duke, has noted that the programmes of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), are designed to promote the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria, in order to give the youths a sense of cultural direction.

 The Minister, who stated this in his address, at the opening ceremony of the 2^nd NICO Management Retreat at City Global Hotel, Owerri, Imo State, said such programmes like the Nigerian Indigenous Language Programme, Promoting Nigerian Dress Culture, the Reading Culture Campaign, Cultural Clubs in Schools, the Annual Round Table on Cultural Orientation (ARTCO), and the Training School Programmes, among others, are veritable platforms to achieve the above.

 Chief Duke, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Dr. Paul Adalikwu, lauded the idea of Management Retreats, noting that it would provide opportunities for deliberations on action plans for improved performance.

 According to him, Management Retreats provide avenues for strategic planning by key stakeholders in an organization, whether public or private, and that the exercise will be: "a platform for the Executive Secretary and Directors of the Institute to carry out a critical re-appraisal of its mandate, its vision, its mission and past performance, with a view to eliciting an action plan for improved performance into the future."

 Speaking further, the Minister said: "I wish to commend the ES and Management of the Institute for this wonderful initiative, which is designed to provide opportunities for management to review performance and trends, as well as deliberate on action plan for improved performance. It is therefore expected that at this forum, you are going to deliberate extensively and analyse your strengths, weaknesses and challenges, and come up with programmes, which will address the challenges which confront us in the culture sector and the nation in general."

 Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Secretary, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, said the Retreat with the theme, "Consolidating the gains of the past: Taking NICO to the Next Level," was for NICO to take a critical look at its objectives, vision and mission statements, with a view to agreeing on the strategies to adopt in furtherance of its mandate.

 Dr. Ayakoroma added that the need to examine issues critically was informed by the fact that NICO is a strategic Institute with pivotal role to address the unfortunate degeneration of culture in Nigerian society.

 According to him: "The realization of this informed the conceptualization of key programmes which are designed to promote our cherished cultural values. In the past couple of years, NICO has engaged various stakeholders and government in various cultural content initiatives in the pursuit of our mandate, such as Quarterly Media Workshop for Art Writers with a view to aligning our reporters with cultural matters that are essential for Nigeria’s national integration and cultural diplomacy. We have also engaged in establishing in concrete terms Nigeria’s dress culture. We are focusing extensively on the establishment of Cultural Clubs in secondary schools with a view to catching them young, and as a follow up on this, we have also established the bulwark for the reawakening of Nigeria’s reading culture. The Nigeria Indigenous Language Programme is where we re-energise and revitalize beyond the current educational policy level on languages."

 Personalities in attendance included, the Honourable Minister for Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, represented by his SA, Dr. Paul Adalikwu, the Executive Secretary, NICO, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, representative of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Mr. Daniel Tifato, the Director-General, Rivers State Carnival & Tourism Development Agency (RSCTDA), Mr. Sam Achibi Dede, representative of Imo State Commissioner, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Sir Blessing Chukwudi, and Director, Imo State Council for Arts and Culture, Dame Nkem Okpara.

 Others are Director Administration and Human Resources, Barr. Abayomi Oyelola mni, Training School, Mr. Innocent Azuobu, Director, Research and Documentation, Mr. Festus Ihenetu, Director, Orientation and Cultural Affairs, Prince Bamidele Olusa, Director, Deputy Director and SA to the ES, Nelson Campbell, Dr. Muyiwa Awodiya (University of Benin), Dr. Tracie Utoh-Ezeajugh (Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka), Mr. Reginald Bob-Manuel, all zonal coordinators, deputy directors, assistant directors, of the Institute.

Nwagbo Nnenyelike

Corporate Affairs