For two hours, the audience especially, the 217 graduating students of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) were full of joy and fulfilment. The students dressed in academic gowns, filed into the Cinema Hall One of the National Theatre, Iganmu Lagos and sat in the centre rows facing the top table. To their left was Pa Alimi Amodu, who sat quietly, watching the proceedings of the first convocation of the 2008 to 2012 sets. “I will be one of you in the next ceremony,” he told himself quietly.
Few minutes to the close of the ceremony, his dream was backed by the Tourism, Culture and National Orientation Minister, Chief Edem Duke who awarded him scholarship to study at NICO training School, Ibadan study centre.
“Pa Alimi Amodu, I am truly glad that you are a truly fascinated Nigerian. I will pick the bill of your post graduate programme in Nigerian languages at NICO Ibadan study centre,” the minister said. The occasion was the maiden convocation of the institute which turns 20 years this year.
The minister said human capital development is strategic to the socio-economic development of the nation, adding that investing in it is critical, such investment is targeted at ensuring that the human resource endowment is knowledgeable, skilled, productive and healthy to ensure optimal exploitation and utilisation of other resources to engender growth and development. He said his ministry places high premium on training and retraining of officers because “we appreciate that policy formulation and implementation are likely to suffer setbacks if the human capital is deficient or ill-equipped for the task.”
According to him, the creative sector has been identified as one of the major growth drivers for achieving the nation’s vision and the transformation agenda. “It is one of the reasons that informed our recent launch of the nation’s tourism brand, Fascinating Nigeria. If the target of diversifying the nation’s economic base is to be met, cultural officers who are strategic stakeholders, should be adequately trained and informed in line with the goals and vision of government,” he noted.
Duke urged chief executives of the various cultural agencies to take advantage of the platforms created by NICO to enhance manpower development in the sector. He pledged that he would ensure that government would consider that every Nigerian mission anywhere in the world must have a trained cultural administrator.
Chairman, House Committee on Culture and Tourism, Mr. Ben Nwankwo wished there was a Constitutional provision that every council have cultural officers who will promote values, peace and unity at the local level. Nwankwo urged the ministry to design a truly Nigerian culture-based curriculum as a course of study in Nigerian universities.
He described the 1914 amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates by Britain as a deliberate effort to create the greatest nation that will sustain British interest. He identified challenges and opportunities as key issues the amalgamation bequeathed the Nigerian people.
Executive Secretary of NICO, Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma disclosed that the institute has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nasarawa State University, Keffi for an affiliation of the Training School with the Department of Theatre and Cultural Studies. He described the intensive cultural training offered by NICO as a panacea to most of the problems faced by the nation. He noted that challenges such as insecurity of lives and property, mass unemployment, infrastructural decay, lack of trust for one another, could be adequately tackled through better understanding and appreciation of the potentials inherent in the nation’s culture. Of the 217 students, twelve won the best students awards. Best overall student award went to John Titilayo Anastasia, while best overall diploma student award went to Oluwole Kingsley.
Earlier on Saturday at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, NICO held its fourth annual public lecture delivered by Prof. Ayo Akinwale, dean, faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin.
His paper, Nollywood as a medium for the promotion of Nigeria’s cultural diplomacy: reflections of a cultural administrator, torched on the low and high points of Nigerian movies.
