The Zonal Director, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), South-East zone, Mr. Chigozie Obialo, has described the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), repositioned by a seasoned cultural administrator, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, as a new wave of ideas and a different dimension in the national Transformation Agenda.
The FRCN zonal boss, who made this assertion when he granted audience to NICO Enugu State office team in his office, identified culture as the vector for information dissemination that brings social reformation in a people and appreciated the management of the Institute for working assiduously toward the fulfillment of its mandate, and describing the relationship between NICO and FRCN as necessary for value re-orientation of our people.
Obialor, who also identified culture as a bedrock in information management since every story is hinged on the culture of any organization or people, praised NICO for their strong presence in the nation, especially the establishment of the Enugu State Office, which shows that it had spread to all nooks and crannies of the country; and congratulated the Office on the successful outing on long vacation 4-week Nigeria Indigenous Language Programme (NILP).
Earlier, the Head, NICO Enugu State office, Mr. Nwajagu Nnaemeka, told the media boss that they were in his office to show appreciation on the wide coverage of the maiden Nigerian Indigenous Language Programme (NILP) organized by the State Office in Enugu, between 2nd August and 6th September, 2013.
Nwajagu identified the electronic media as powerful tools to reach the people, particularly those in the rural areas, hence a sine-qua-non in the propagation of NICO’s vision and mission.
He said, it was up to the owners of any particular culture to ensure it survived or not, and further pointed out that the media was the major channel the Westerners used to infiltrate into our culture and polluted the minds of the young ones; and that there was urgent need to “chase out the owl from the source it came.”
The NICO Enugu State boss was also of the opinion that we have to let the world know of our culture by introducing new programmes and teaching most of our existing ones in our local dialects, and further observed that culture quiz and essay competitions need to be strengthened through the media to restore our cherished culture.
Also speaking, Mr. Austin Okezie of the Research and Documentation Department enumerated the programmes of NICO and enjoined FRCN to assist in ensuring that our culture does not go into extinction through regular programmes that will showcase our rich culture.
He specifically solicited for partnership between the Igbo Unit of FRCN and NICO, in the realization of this noble objective, expressing worry that our people have been disconnected from their cultures as a result of negative media influence, hoping that the support of FRCN will go a long way in ameliorating the situation.
Giving a vote of thanks, the Manager (Programmes), Mr. Fidelis Onor, expressed appreciation to NICO for the laudable programmes aimed at bringing back our lost glory and promised to feature NICO activities in the FRCN language programme, “Ka oha malu,” and prayed for the continuing relationship.
Other FRCN management staff present at the occasion include Engr. Jonas Emechebe (Deputy Director, Engr. Services), Dr. Vincent Ekwerike (Deputy Director, Programmes), Mr. Anthony Umeh (Deputy Director, Finance & Accounts), Mr. Innocent Ekwerike (Asst. Director, Admin. & Supplies), Mr. Frank Okoli (Asst. Director, Internal Audit), Mr. Sunny Ekechukwu (Manager, Marketing), and Mr. Nath Obikpo (Head, Igbo Unit).
Kingsley Ngoka
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO Enugu