RECORD OF LANDMARK ACHIEVEMENTS AT NICO

BFA’s tenure at National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), which ended on Tuesday, 28^th November, 2017, recorded several milestones, some of which include:

1.    Repositioning Nigeria’s apex cultural institute, NICO Training School, for effective training of cultural officers in all MDAs in the Federation.

2.    Teaching Nigerian Indigenous Language programmes in NICO Offices nationwide.

3.    Organising quality workshop programmes and conferences.

4.    Promoting Nigerian dress culture through the institution of Dress Nigeria Days (Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays for NICO staffers; and Fridays by Federal civil servants in Nigeria).

5.    Sensitisation programmes on culture, peace and national security and for traditional rulers, where NICO canvassed for a role for traditional rulers in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999). (See Culture, Peace and National Security: The Role of Traditional Rulers and Local Government Chairmen edited by Olu Obafemi and Barclays Ayakoroma (Ibadan: Kraft Books, 2013).

6.    Sensitisation programmes on culture, leadership and accountability for local government council chairmen, where the Institute also canvassed for financial autonomy for Local Government Councils in Nigeria. (See Culture and the Socio-Economic Transformation of the Local Government System in Nigeria edited by Olu Obafemi and Barclays Ayakoroma (Ibadan: Kraft Books, 2013).

7.    Capacity building programmes for media professionals on culture and tourism desks.

8.    Redesigning the NICO website: www.nico.gov.ng and making it the most active site in the culture and tourism sector in Nigeria.

9.    Ensuring the Institute’s strong social media presence with NICO Facebook Page and NICO Social Network Group.

10. Sponsoring staffers for regular capacity development programmes (national and international workshops/conferences).

11. Ensuring regular and prompt promotion of members of staff through professionally organised annual promotion examinations.

12. Regular research, documentation and publication of books.

13. Publishing an in-house newsletter, NICO News: A Newsletter of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) quarterly.

14. Publishing an academic journal, CultureScope: A Journal of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), for the cross-fertilisation of cultural ideas.

15. Partnering both Culture and Tourism Committees in the National Assembly to carry out sensitisation and empowerment programmes in various states of the Federation.

16. Hosting of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA) Annual International Conference in 2015, the first to be hosted outside the university system.

17. Actualising the affiliation of NICO Training School with the Department of Theatre & Cultural Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK).

18. Initiating National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) Accreditation process for the Diploma in Cultural Administration (DCA) and Advanced Diploma in Cultural Administration (ADCA) programmes of NICO Training School.

19. Networking with Nigeria’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO to Inscribe the Argungu International Cultural and Fishing Festival under the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of the Urgent Safeguarding.

20. Several other International cultural collaborations, among others.