altCulture agencies in Nigeria have been called upon to partner the media to ensure proper packaging, dissemination, orientation, education, propagation and marketing of the country’s culture products, and that such synergy will be invaluable in effectively repositioning culture in the transformation agenda.

This was one of the resolutions at the end of the 3-day national media workshop on repositioning public officers in Nigeria for improved productivity organized by the apex cultural training institute in the country, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), with the theme, “Developing media strategies for organizational growth in the culture sector.

A communiqué issued at the end of the workshop had eleven recommendations, which included, ensuring an all-embracing culturally-informed development transformation agenda, actualising the economic aspect of the transformation agenda through the culture sector, interfacing culture and the media, a symbiotic relationship that will give serious attention to the culture sector as it does to other sectors like politics, aviation, oil and gas, energy and power, to mention a few.

Other recommendations were that the media and public relations practitioners in the culture sector should influence media coverage by providing relevant news items for public consumption; that culture communicators should constantly update their knowledge in information and communication technology (ICT) so as to meet the demands of modern digital technology; that stakeholders should be abreast of standard best practices in the face of globalization; and that there should be a thorough and meticulous re-assessment and understanding of the Freedom of Information (FOI) law as it affects the culture sector, in addition to developing national media communication network to address the challenges that confront Nigeria as a nation, culturally.

Also in the recommendation were that culture managers in MDAs needed to adopt media strategies to disseminate the required information about the policies of government to bring about positive perceptions; needed proper orientation and attitude on government policies; that the media can be used to promote and project the Nigerian cultural identity to the international community; that information managers in MDAs should endeavour to cultivate good media relations and understand the psychology and leaning of media owners and news reporters to be acquainted with their in-house styles as well as establishing media outlets like newsletter, bulletins, website, journals, and social media by organizations that should be manned by the media and public relations professionals in such organizations for effective coverage of their activities.

This media workshop, which was organized as a platform for strategic planning and acquisition of media skills and competence by relevant organizations in the culture sector, focused on media professionals and information managers in MDAs to apply such skills effectively for national development.

Since the inception in 2010, the national quarterly media workshop has continued to serve as an interface between culture and the media, where striking themes have featured, stimulating intellectual discourses in the culture and media sectors, all aimed at sensitizing participants on the role of culture and media in the sustainable development of the Nigerian nation.

Five papers were presented in the just concluded edition, in line with the theme of the workshop, namely, Mr. Ben Tomoloju, Professor Mabel Evwierhoma and Dr. Charlie Nwekeaku, speaking on, “Culture and the media in the transformation agenda: An overview,” “Developing media strategies for organizational growth in the culture sector,” and “Promoting the transformation agenda: The role of the media in the cultural agencies,” respectively.

Other papers presented were, “Developing effective communication skills for organizational media relations,” by Dr. Ejike Okonkwo, and “The place of media relations in repositioning cultural agencies: Towards a practical approach,” by Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma.

Caleb Nor
Corporate Affairs
NICO, Abuja