The Head, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) South-West Zone, Mr. Ohi Ojo, has charged school authorities and fashion designers to come up with culturally-compliant attires as school uniforms to make the African child different from his/her counterpart elsewhere, arguing that this would create employment especially in the textile industry and boost the nation’s economy.
Mr. Ojo, who stated this on Thursday, April 3, 2014, at Lydia Memorial International School, Akure, Ondo State, during the school’s Culture Day Celebration, commended the Principal, teachers and students for promoting culture through the programme.
He encouraged the pupils to always be proud of their culture and uphold the right cultural values, stressing, “These value systems when adhered to, tend to shape your life for the better. As an honest child, your rewards are immeasurable, you can stand tall among your peers; a hardworking child never fails in his/her academic pursuit; he or she always comes out in flying colours in exams thereby creating a secure future in life. This could be attested to with the Ondo State slogan, ‘Ise loogun ise,’ meaning, hard work is an antidote to poverty.”
Earlier in his address, the Chairman of the occasion, Chief Stephen Arawomo stated that culture is the total way of life of a people, citing the example of the communal spirit seen in the ancient traditional African setting, where families did things in common which is no longer the case in our contemporary society, as people blatantly display nonchalant attitude toward such values.
He therefore urged parents/teachers to cherish their indigenous languages and cultures and to impart same on their children/pupils in order not to mislead them, concluding that the loss of culture is the loss of life.
Highlights of the ceremony included cultural displays by the pupils and launching of a new set of drums by the Cultural Club of the secondary school section of the school, which had been inaugurated on the 17th May, 2013.
In the entourage of the Zonal Head to the occasion were Miss Folashade Oladejobi of the Corporate Affairs Unit and Mr. Mustapha Alfanla of the Orientation & Cultural Affairs Unit.
Folashade Oladejobi
Corporate Affairs
NICO SWZ