Arising from the just concluded 3-Day National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) Workshop on “Repositioning Cultural Workers for Improved Productivity,” for staffers of the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, participants have called on the Ministry to continuously engage NICO towards providing professional training as far as the culture sector is concerned.
Staffers, who participated in the workshop stated this when reminiscing on the training, disclosing that in their years in service, many of them have never had an opportunity like the NICO training and expressed appreciation to the Honourable Minister, Chief Edem Duke, and the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, for approving the workshop, which had added core value to their work performance as cultural workers.
One of them, Mr. Abaku Ige Anderson, described the workshop as very wonderful and fantastic, saying: “I am 27 years in the service and this is the first time I am participating in such a robust professional and technical training been organized by the ministry.”
He continued: “This training has exposed me to a lot of things and I want to suggest that this kind of thing should continue. What is more to it is that instead of taking our Ogas abroad to America with capital flights, where they will go and pay foreign exchange, why not organize this kind of training in places like Obudu Ranch and Lagos, where there are beautiful areas near the beaches so that at the end, they will appreciate what their core professional value is all about?”
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ppreciating NICO for packaging such a professional training for culture workers in the ministry, Abaku noted that NICO had gone a long way, saying the Institute was doing a very fantastic job and he believed that they would continue, stressing: “Never should we contract this kind of workshop outside. It will even be a source of generating income internally and creating employment opportunities because we will invite some facilitators to come and deliver lectures and even employ ad-hoc workers to come and work and at the end of the day, you will give them stipends.”
It is important to note that since its establishment in 1993, as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, as Nigeria’s apex Cultural Training Institute, this is the first time NICO has had the opportunity of organizing a professional training programme for staffers in the parent ministry, and interestingly, the Institute has proved its worth by providing academic and professional training that will not only enhance the development of culture workers in the ministry but also build their capacity to refresh their minds as far as current trends in cultural administration are concerned.
It will be recalled that at the had erudite scholars and experienced civil servants as resource persons, who presented thought-provoking papers that will continue to resonate in the minds of participants, thereby, making them better informed cultural workers and administrators.
Caleb Nor
Corporate affairs