Stepping out of the Lectu
re Hall, looking beautiful and radiant in their traditional attires, Sandra Ngozike Ogbonna and Cynthia Utum Onyemaechi, staffers of Ebonyi State Council of Arts and Culture, Abakaliki are presently undergoing the Diploma in Cultural Administration (DCA) programme in the Training School of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), National Theatre Annex, Iganmu-Lagos.
These two happy ladies love to put on Nigerian indigenous dresses to lectures at NICO Training School and, at every opportunity, depict the fine traditional fabrics that are truly Nigerian, which is exemplary and commendable.
According to Ogbonna, it is not difficult for herself and the three others from Ebonyi Arts Council to dress traditionally to NICO classrooms because back in Ebonyi State, they also put on traditional wears to the office on Wednesdays and Fridays every week.
She said: “What we are learning in NICO only reinforces our conviction to showcase Nigerian culture everywhere we are by the way we dress and to keep our culture going.”
On the other hand, Onyemaechi, another student from Ebonyi State Council for Arts and Culture, always clad in traditional attires also, further expressed her pleasant surprise with the quality of cultural learning that NICO provides, saying: “Now we are in a 
better position to promote culture as this NICO training provides us with deep understanding of cultural issues.”
The Ebonyi State Council of Arts and Culture, Abakaliki, is one of the many government agencies in the culture sector that wisely builds the capacity of its workers by making use of the cultural training opportunities provided by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), the apex and leading cultural institute in Nigeria.
In this 2014/2015 academic session, four members of staff of Ebonyi State Council for Arts & Culture have enrolled to study Cultural Administration in the NICO Training School in recognition of the positive impact of the Institute’s innovative cultural learning platform on workplace experiences.
It will be recalled that two members of staff of the Council graduated from NICO Training School in the 2011/2012 academic session.
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO Training School