Come Year 2015, the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) will be adding another feather to its cap of ‘excellent execution’ in the area of professional hosting and organization of national and international conferences and seminars.
This is coming on the hills of the assemblage of academics in Theatre Arts, known as, the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA) requesting the Institute to host its Annual International Conference next year, SONTA 2015, which NICO Management has readily accepted.
A letter signed by the Executive Secretary, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma on the 20th of August, 2014, and addressed to the National President of SONTA, Professor Sunday Enessi Ododo, had indicated the readiness of the Institute to host the 28th edition SONTA’s Annual International Conference in 2015; and the approval was subsequently granted on the 27th August, 2014 at SONTA’s Annual General Meeting, which held at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos.
Disclosing the above to NICO staffers during the 2nd General Assembly at the Institute’s Headquarters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, the Executive Secretary, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, said Management had already put in place a Local Organising Committee (LOC), under the chairmanship of Barr. Abayomi Oyelola, mni, Director, Administration and Human Resources, while he will serve as the Convener, adding that the Committee will be reporting to him on regular basis.
Concluding, Dr. Ayakoroma said hosting SONTA 2015 will be a veritable platform to further bring the potentials of the Institute to the fore, as it proffers a platform that will draw reputable Thespians from across the globe, and that staffers should be ready to key into the programme, adding that some of them will be co-opted into sub-committees like finance, accommodation, entertainment, transport, plenary session, and so on.
His words: “God willing, with our planning, the outcome of the conference will be the benchmark for the body for subsequent conferences. I believe if we are able to host SONTA 2015, we should be able to host the African Theatre Association (AFTA) Conference subsequently.”
The Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA), an umbrella body of theatre arts lecturers in higher institutions in Nigeria, has been in existence since 1982, with the mission of research, promotion of academics and robust practices in theatre, culture, media arts and film.
Njideka Dimgba
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO, Abuja-FCT