The Executive Secretary of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Professor Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma has said that, his office will not tolerate idleness among staffers in spite of the numerous challenges the Institute is faced with.

Ayakoroma, who stated this, Friday, 6th March, 2015, when he visited NICO North-Central Zonal Office at No. 20 Cemetery Road, Off Civil Service Clinic Drive, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State, added that the momentum the Institute had gathered in the last few years must be maintained even in the face of the dwindling funding situation in the country pending when the situation improves, and that it was the more reason why the Institute is hosting the 2015 Annual Conference of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA) from 4th to 5th August, in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

While congratulating the recently promoted staffers, the Executive Secretary urged them to take due advantage of the present challenges by being creative and exploiting necessary avenues for self-development, promising that the Institute will soon clear the backlog of staff entitlements and that he had directed the Director, Finance & Accounts, Mr. Godson Ordu, to attend to such pending approvals on ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Responding on behalf of Management and Staff of NICO North-Central Zonal Office, the Zonal Coordinator, Alhaji Ibrahim Lawal, expressed his warmest appreciation to the ES, Professor Barclays Ayakoroma, for his unscheduled visit and the interaction, which had clarified many issues agitating the minds of staff in the Zone.

The Executive Secretary was in Ilorin, Kwara State, to attend the 2nd Playwrights’ Confab billed for 6th to 8th March, 2015, at the Kwara state Council for Arts and Culture, an event convened by Professor Emeritus Femi Osofisan (his teacher and mentor), and hosted by Kwara State University, Malete.

Naseer Saeed Ategba
NICO NCZ, Ilorin