Talthe Honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke has commended the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), under the leadership of Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, for its continued efforts towards promoting and projecting the nation’s rich cultural heritage.

Duke gave this commendation while declaring open, a 3-day national media workshop on “Repositioning public officers for improved productivity,” organized by the Institute on Tuesday, 29 October, 2013, at the Merit House, Maitama-Abuja.alt

Represented by Dr. Paul Adalikwu, deputy director (Tourism), Duke said the workshop with the theme, “Developing Media Strategies for Organizational Growth in the Culture Sector,” was borne out of the passion NICO had for the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration.

His words: “I sincerely wish to commend the Institute for this initiative, which is intended to provide opportunities for the management and information officers in the culture sector to be well abreast of modern trends and developments in culture promotion and the media. It will be invaluable in driving the transformation agenda and also enable the populace appreciate the interface between culture and media in the society.”

The minister, who expressed confidence that the workshop offered a veritable platform for strategic planning and acquisition of media skills and strategies by the relevant organizations in the culture sector, charged resource persons and participants to do thorough and meticulous re-assessment and understanding of the Freedom of Information (FOI) law, as it affects the culture sector, and identify effective media strategies for promoting the programmes and activities of MDAs in the culture sector.

He therefore urged the forum to carefully examine the papers presented at the workshop to ensure the participants’ understanding of the cultural dimension in press and media relations in a developing economy with the view of improving their core media communication competence and create a close national media communication network as well as come up with powerful strategies to address the challenges that confront the nation.

Caleb Nor
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO, Abuja