The Amalgamated Union of Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) Branch, has appreciated the exemption of the NICO Staff that have attended the Institute’s Training School from sitting for the promotion examinations.
 
Registering the appreciation in a letter to the Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, captioned, “Letter of Appreciation for exempting Staff that attended the Institute’s Training School from sitting for the promotion exams,” signed by Comrade Adamu Ndanusa, AUPCTRE Secretary on behalf of the Chairman, Comrade Onyekachi Nwanguma, the AUPCTRE leadership, expressed its happiness to the ES and the entire Management for what they described as kind gesture.

Urging the Ayakoroma-led administration to keep up its admirable management style, the letter reads, in part:  “We wish to appreciate you and your management team for exempting our staff that went to NICO Training School and graduated thereafter from sitting for the recent promotion exam. We appreciate you most sincerely and wish you more grease to your elbow and the entire management team.”

It will be recalled that the ES had announced at the End of Year 2012 Meeting of Management and Staff that his administration was looking into the issue of NICO Training School as a criterion for promotion, and that those who had passed through NICO Training will be exempted from writing the next promotion exams, a statement that became a reality when names of 82 where published on the Staff Notice Board in January, 2013, with the caption, “List of Staff Exempted from 2013 Promotion Examination,” and signed by Alhaji Ndaman, on behalf of the ES.  

In a related development, the Union leadership, led by the Vice Chairman, Mrs. Ananwan Utip Fred, had also visited the ES, in his office, to wish him happy birthday, saying: “Sir, AUCPTRE members in NICO have sent us to come and celebrate with you for adding another year to your life. For us it is a year of service to God and humanity. We vaaltlue you for what you are to us. We celebrate the grace of the Almighty God in your life. You are an epitome of love, courage, honesty and hard work.”

The ES, who had earlier felicitated with his birthday mates in NICO, Miss Ebiere Dressman and Mohammed Gaddafi Abubakar, thanked God for sparing his life with his birthday mates, just as Miss Dressman told NICO News that she felt highly honoured to share the same birth day with an icon in Nigeria like Dr. Ayakoroma: “I felt very excited because I celebrated with a distinguished personality in Nigeria. It is a rare opportunity. It is something special for me because I feel inspired by his achievement as he is somebody to emulate.”

On his part, Gaddafi said, like Dressman, he was filled with appreciation for sharing birthday with his boss, who is a man of honour that has taken Nigerian culture seriously: “I was humbled when I was told that he was calling me, so that we can share birthday pleasantries. I was honoured when all of us in NICO, who were born the same day with him sat together, took pictures and cut cake with him (the ES). This shows his love and humility for mankind. God will continue to bless him.”

Nwagbo Pat Obi
Corporate Affairs