The Executive Secretary of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma has decried the attitude of members of staff to work at the headquarters of the Institute as appalling and has advised them to change for the better.
Ayakoroma, who gave the admonition while deliberating on one of the agenda, “Staff Attitude to Work,” during the 2nd NICO General Assembly for the year, at Institute’s headquarters in Abuja, pointed out that some staffers wanted to turn the Institute into a marketplace as well as a rumour clinic, neglecting the primary aim of their being staffers, which was to contribute meaningfully for better service delivery in the Institute.
His words: “Your attitude to work need to change. Some of you just take this work like civil service a job where you come in, sign in and out, and that is all. We are not thinking of what we are contributing to make the Institute better. We are not living up to our responsibilities and our duties. The way you take your work will determine how the Director of your department will take you serious. If you are too comfortable with your position, you will not go anywhere. Let us change our attitude to work because there is a whole lot of difference between this Institute and other Parastatals.”
Continuing, the NICO boss averred that it was in his serving people, working diligently and commitment to duty that he was made the Executive Secretary of NICO; “I have served people; I worked diligently; I have served as Special Assistant (SA) and Personal Assistant (PA) to people. I am here today as the ES means that I served President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan well when he was Executive Governor of Bayelsa State.”
Also lending his voice to that of the Executive Secretary on the nonchalant attitude of staff to work, the Director, Administration and Human Resources, Barr. Abayomi Oyelola, mni, said the excuses (as per distance from their homes to the office) given by staff for being habitual late comers should not arise in the first place because they were not working for anybody but themselves, submitting that staff desperately needed the NICO job and now that they have got the job, they should have the right attitude, to be better and develop themselves.
He said, “To whom much is expected much is given,” was his attitudinal philosophy to work, because, to him, it is in diligently doing that which one is expected to do that for which one will be rewarded, adding that there is always a day of reckoning and no knowledge is lost once acquired.
The 3-hour NICO 2nd General Assembly was in fulfilment of the promise by Management earlier this year, during the 1st Assembly held on the 6th of February, that, the meeting would be held more often to create an interactive forum for Management and staffers to deliberate on issues of common interest and concern.
Some of the Management staff present at the Assembly included Director Accounts and Finance, Mr. Godson Ordu; Director, Research and Documentation, Prince Bamidele Olusa; Director, Orientation and Cultural Affairs, Mr. Alex Omijie; Assistant Director, Administration and Human Resources, Mrs. Jane Anigala; Head, Legal Unit, ES Office, Barr. Musa Kakamba; Head of Documentation Unit, Mr. Mike Ekoko; Head of Internal Audit, Mr. Herbert Ogbe; Head of Procurement, Mr. Uruemu Okorodudu; Head of Research Unit, Mrs. Maria Okpuzor; Head of Orientation Unit, Mrs. Franca Okoro; and Head of Corporate Affairs Unit, ES Office, Hajia Fatima Mustapha, among others.
Njideka Dimgba
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO, Abuja