The Executive Secretary of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Associate Professor Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma has assured the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) that the NICO will participate in the NIM North-Central Zone Fellows Forum as well as the Annual National Management Conference scheduled for 18-20 August and 18-20 September, 2016, respectively.

Ayakoroma pledged the Institute’s support when the leadership of the North-Central Zone of NIM led by the Chairperson and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of NIM Fellows Forum, Mrs. Omolara Farida Bello, FNIM, paid him a courtesy visit at NICO headquarters, No. 23 Kigoma Street, Wuse Zone 7, Abuja-FCT, on Monday, 1st August, 2016, to solicit the Institute’s support in NIM’s forthcoming Fellows’ Forum and Annual National Management Conference, among other programmes.

His words: “I want to welcome you formally to the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO). When I saw the request for you to pay a courtesy visit, as part of the system, I was happy…. We want to pledge our support with whatever we can do to support you. We want to assure you that if it’s acceptable, NICO will do cultural performances during the opening ceremony of the conference. We are going to tell the officers in charge to participate.”

Continuing, the ES intimated the visitors on some of the sensitization programmes being carried out by the Institute concerning cultural issues, ranging from the NICO Training School both in Lagos and Abuja, where cultural officers are trained to be good culture communicators and ambassadors, Dress Nigeria Days, the one-month Annual Nigerian Indigenous Language Programme (NILP), and the Weekend Indigenous Language Programme (WILP), among others.

In her speech, the Chairperson of Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), North-Central Zone, Mrs. Farida Bello, thanked NICO for accepting the request for the courtesy call, saying, she brought warm greetings from the President and Chairman of Council of NIM, Emeritus Prof. Munzali Jibril, FNIM, OFR and the entire members of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), especially in the North-Central Zone.

Appreciating the immense work that NICO has been doing in the culture sector and also as a reputable driver of positive initiatives, she solicited the participation and support of the Institute to NIM’s 2016 programmes, beginning from the NIM North-Central Zone Fellows Forum, Abuja, 18-20 August; Annual National Management Conference, Abuja, 18-20 September; NIM North-Central Zone, Corporate Luncheon in November and Annual Zonal Summit in December 2016.

Mrs. Bello also used the opportunity to urge NIM members in NICO to regularly participate at the Chapter Level Activities for continuous development and to enhance synergistic collaboration with other members.

There was an interactive session, where the NIM NCZ Management Team asked questions on some of the activities of NICO, firstly, the need for Nigeria to have a unified national language, like South Africa, through the amalgamation of the different indigenous languages to develop a unified national language or lingua franca for national integration.

The Executive Secretary informed that one GUOSA language has been propounded and proposed by a Nigerian from Edo State, Mr. Alex Igbineweka, based in the United States of America, to be adopted as a national language in Nigeria, explaining that the GUOSA language is a juxtaposition of the different Nigerian indigenous languages both major and minor, which will serve as Nigeria’s lingua franca and create linguistic democracy, if adopted by the Nigerian Government and citizens.

On the effort NICO was making towards spreading Dress Nigeria Days, that is, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, to every part of Nigeria, Prof. Ayakoroma said that, the Initiative was one of the first giant steps the Institute took after he came on board, informing that the Institute presented a memo at the National Council on Culture & Tourism held in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, in 2010, which was approved; and the result was that the Federal Government eventually set aside Fridays as Dress Nigeria Days, informing that, incidentally, NICO has not been given the powers to enforce the policy.

NIM1The Chairperson of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), North-Central Zone, Mrs. Omolara Farida Bello, was accompanied on the visit by the Chairman, Garki Chapter and Welfare Officer of the Local Organising Committee of the NIM Annual Conference, Mrs. Cecilia Opara (MNIM); Head, Sub-Committee, Partnership and Sponsorship, Sir Odigie Eghobamien (FNIM) of the Maitama District Abuja; Head, Publicity Sub-Committee of the LOC, Mr. Nonso Okafor; Deputy Commissioner of Police and Member of the LOC, DCP Chukwuma Katchy (MNIM); Chairman,  NIM Central Business District and Member of the LOC, Mr. Ibiso Tom George (MNIM); Treasurer and Head, Welfare Sub-Committee of the LOC, Mrs. Mabel Aiyewumi (FNIM).

The NICO Management staff present included, Acting Director Administration and Human Resources, Alhaji Ismail Husseini; Coordinator, NICO Training School, Abuja Study Centre, Dr. (Mrs.) Regina Onuoha; Deputy Director & SA-ES, Mr. Law Ezeh; Head, Protocol, Mr. Ibrahim Malgwi and the CSO-ES, Miss Fatima Jafaru.

Njideka Dimgba

Corporate Affairs Unit

NICO, Abuja-FCT