The Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has approved the release of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) 2017 promotion examination result with effect from January 1, 2017.

This approval was contained in a letter, referenced FMCT/56/C/T/66, addressed to the Acting Executive Secretary/CEO of NICO, Mr. Louis Eriomala, dated 22nd December, 2017 on the subject: “Re: 2017 Promotion Exercise: Request for Approval of Senior Staff Committee Recommendations” and signed by Mr. Adebola Kayode, the Director, Human Resources Management for the Honourable Minister.

The letter reads in part “I am directed to convey the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture’s approval for the release of the one hundred and seventy three candidates on Salary CONRAISS 07-15 that were successful at the 2017 promotion exercise. The promotion takes effect from 1st January, 2017”.

Sequel to the above approval, the Acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Louis Eriomala has also directed for immediate implementation of the 2017 promotion examination to ensure that all officers who were successful in the examination exercise have their promotions implemented with full benefits of their new cadre while their arrears for 2017 are already being worked on as a way of motivating them for better job performance.

In a chat with NICO News, the Institute’s Director of Administration and Human Resources, Alhaji Ibrahim Husseini, said the directive for the speedy implementation of the result is a proof of the Acting Executive Secretary’s commitment to staff development.

In his words, “We are happy that we have a new Acting ES who has his own strategies and we are glad that it is through his efforts that the promotion result was processed this fast. He was able to speed up the process and as well, secure the enabling environment where relevant bodies were invited to vet the result before we got approval from the ministry”.

“The Acting ES gave the directive for immediate implementation of the result which was done speedily and we are happy to say that as part of staff development, promotion has been sorted out and by God’s grace, all the promoted officers will have their promotion implemented with effect from January, 2018 and hopefully, they will start enjoying the benefits”.

He expressed delight that normal procedures and conditions stipulated by the Public Service Rules and guidelines for appointment, promotion and discipline were strictly adhered to, to ensure competitiveness, stressing that none of the officers who sat for the 2017 promotion examination had disciplinary issues and, that they satisfied the conditions required for promotion.

“The Senior Management committee vetted the result and there are officers who failed last year and were repeating the exam. This category of persons had advantages in areas like seniority marks and good annual performance scores that assisted them. So the score from the exam, joined with Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER), in addition to seniority marks that ppeople were entitled to. These aided them to pass as stipulated by guidelines on appointment and promotion in the federal public service”.

While admonishing officers who were successful in the exercise to see it as progress and stepping stones in their career and a challenge to them to be committed and be more dedicated in their duties towards achieving the mandate of the institute, Alhaji Husseini also called on those who failed to work harder and ensure that they pass in the next promotion examination.

Out of the one hundred and ninety five (195) officers who participated in the 2017 promotion examination, one hundred and seventy three (173) persons were successful, representing 89 percent, while twenty one (22) persons failed, representing about 11 percent.

Caleb Nor

Media Assistant to ES

NICO HQ

Abuja-FCT