The Acting Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Mr. Louis Eriomala has promised to collaborate with the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK) in the area of publishing research books on cultural studies.

Eriomala who made this known during a follow-up meeting with the leadership of the School of Postgraduate Studies, said as a way to further cement the relationship with the two institutions, NICO is willing to publish books written by lecturers from the University.

In his words “I am challenging the Head of Theatre and Cultural Studies Department and other lecturers to come up with research works on cultural studies and I assure you that if you give it to us today, before three months, we will bring it back to you. That we will do. It is a promise.

On the other hand, the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies at NSUK, Professor O. Akinwumi reiterated his support for the affiliation of NICO’s training programmes to the University, saying he will ensure that gray areas in the Memorandum of Understanding with NICO are addressed while they work on recommendations to be forwarded to the Management of the University for onward consideration.

In his words “Instead of going back and forth, we will meet the Vice Chancellor and give him our report. The areas of school fees and registration among other issues will be tabled before the VC. This is going to be like a community service by the university.”

For Professor Emmanuel Dandaura who represents NSUK on the NICO Training School Board, the affiliation of the Institute’s training programmes should be seen as a developmental project by the University as it stands the chance to become a reference point in the training of cultural workers in the country saying it is the only University with a department that has cultural studies component which is relevant to NICO’s mandate on training.

In his words “We have a unique offering and I think capturing a partner like NICO could be seen as a developmental project so we can evolve as a centre of excellence for postgraduate studies in the cultural sector. If we look at it that way, the university will see the extended gain not necessarily as a financial project but we can work on collaborating on researches.”

Recall that the affiliation of NICO training programmes has since been approved by the Senate of NSUK but the process of graduating the first set of students is yet to be completed.

Caleb Nor

Media Asst.-Ag. ES

NICO HQ

Abuja-FCT