The Acting Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation NICO, Mr. Louis Eriomala has charged staff of the Institute to develop themselves towards quality and efficient service delivery.

Mr. Eriomala who gave this charge on Monday, November 12, 2018 while on a one-day visit to the South-West zonal office of the Institute in Akure, Ondo State said self development is sacrosanct for efficiency and service delivery and encouraged staff to acquire skills that will enhance their productivity and efficiency.

According to him, one of the major problems confronting many Nigerians today is the poor reading culture and inability to develop self. In his words “Read books, write stories, add skill, learn new things and always assess yourself”. He also assured that very soon, zonal and state offices of the institute will be given research grants to aid research in their various zones and states.

The Acting ES further gave the assurance that henceforth, staff training will be on the basis of knowledge acquisition and a need for it instead of going for trainings for the purpose of accessing Duty Tour Allowances (DTA), saying NICO cannot continue to progress in a wrong direction.

On the need to provide accommodation for students in the Lagos Training School campus of the Institute, Eriomala said the inability to provide accommodation for the current academic session is as a result of paucity of funds but promised that Management is working towards providing accommodation for the training centre by the next academic session to attract more participants, especially external students.

Lamenting over the erosion of our value system in the country, The NICO Boss held the view that poverty and lack of money are not the reasons for the daunting challenges ravaging our dear country but value related issues and therefore charged the staff to put all hands are on deck and ensure the purpose for which the NICO Cultural Club was established is not defeated. To him, parents have failed in their responsibility to inculcate the right values in their children, hence the establishment of the clubs to instill the right cultural values into the young generation, thereby sustaining our rich cultural values.

“As a parent, the cultural club is very dear to my heart and we must ensure it is sustained, with or without adequate funding. Henceforth, funds will be made available for the smooth and effective running of the cultural clubs”.

Earlier in his address, the Zonal Head, NICO South-West, Mr. James Imohiosen, expressed appreciation to the Acting ES for creating time to visit the zone despite his busy work schedule.

Imohiosen who particularly thanked the Acting ES for his support in the acquisition of land for the zonal office and Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), further solicited that management should speed up action towards developing the land to enable the zone have its office complex.

In his response, the Acting ES disclosed that before the end of this year, the plot of land will be fenced with a gate house while all zonal and state offices shall be furnished with office furniture by next year.

Ehis Ogedegbe

Corporate Affairs

NICO SWZ