The Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Ado Muhammed Yahuza, on Thursday, October 21, 2021, received a Certificate of Award from the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) as Eminent Awardee for Examplary Public Administrator to Watch.

The National President of the Association, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye who presented the certificate during a courtesy visit on the Executive Secretary, said the award, which will be officially bestowed on him November 12, 2021 in Abuja was to recognize and celebrate a few Nigerians that made remarkable achievements towards the development of the country in the past one year.

According to her, the Association had monitored the activities of NICO in the past one year and identified the Institute under the leadership of Ado Yahuza to be have made remarkable impact in the discharge of its mandate.

Her words “We monitored agencies of government that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, there was nothing stopping them and we decided that our award this year should be about achievers. It was in this process of monitoring that we came across NICO and what the leadership is doing”.

“In this year’s award, the Executive Secretary has made the list of Eminent Persons Award. It is all about celebrating achievers. It does not take much to please Nigerians and for those who have found a way to make a difference and put down their names on the sands of time, we want to reward them to let them know that what they are doing is not going unnoticed”.

Responding, Ado Yahuza, who appreciated NANTA for the recognition, attributed the achievements of his administration in the last one year to the collective efforts of both Management and Staff of NICO towards actualizing the Institute’s mandate.

His words: “I am really humbled by this recognition and award. All we are doing is because we are saddled with the NICO mandate. In the last one year, we have been able to achieve much because of our mandate. We hope to intensify our efforts to do more. One of our mandates is to educate and orientate adults, youths, children, young persons, and women to appreciate our cultural diversity and to see our diversity as our strength”.

Yahuza further highlighted that the training arm of the Institute has a vibrant and dynamic Postgraduate Diploma course that is affiliated to Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK); and Ordinary Diploma in Cultural Administration with an on-going accreditation process with National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) to give it the credibility it deserves.

He however, promised to ensure a cordial working relationship and partnership that will benefit both NICO and NANTA.

The Director, NICO Training School, Mrs. Brigitte Yerima also speaking, assured NANTA of NICO’s collaboration in the area of short duration of training courses for members of NANTA.

NICO Directors present during the courtesy visit to receive the guests were Mr. Alex Omijie, Orientation and Cultural Affairs; Mr. Michael Ekoko, Research and Documentation while the NANTA President was accompanied by Frank Meke of the Sun Newspaper.

Caleb Nor & Njideka Dimgba
ES Office
NICO, Abuja