On Monday, August 2, 2010, the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), a parastatal in the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, organised a one-day national workshop on

propagating cultural values for national development at the Merit House, Abuja. Adewale Oshodi, who was among the participants, reports.

Nigeria, despite being a country blessed with different unique cultures, is, however, yet to fully exploit these cultures to its advantage. It is as a result of this that the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) was established, to educate Nigerians on the need to embrace their cultures, and the agency has been doing just that.

On Monday, August 2, 2010, NICO organised a one-day national workshop on propagating cultural values for national development for stakeholders in the cultural sector, at the Merit House, Abuja.

The workshop, themed: Cultural Values, Our Greatest Asset, was to sensitise Nigerians to the positive roles  cultures could play in national development.

In his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of NICO, Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma, said development in any country, must take cultural perspectives into consideration, and as a result, the workshop was to show the way by which culture could be harnessed for national development.

Dr. Ayakoroma said NICO was working towards making the workshop a national event whereby stakeholders in the cultural industry could come together and exchange ideas.

“We cannot make progress without the synergy between art writers and administrators, and it is because of this that such workshops will be coming up from time to time,” Dr. Ayakoroma stated.

While also speaking, the national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mallam Garba Mohammed, who was also the chairman on the occasion, commended NICO for its role in propagating Nigeria’s cultural heritage.

While also commending NICO for enlisting journalists this assignment, Mallam Mohammed said nothing would be achieved if the journalists were left out, as it was only through these professionals that the message could be passed across to Nigerians.

The Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, who was represented by an official in the ministry, Mr. George Ufot, said NICO, through its programmes, understands its role in developing the country through the propagation of culture, culture of decency, honesty, respect etc.

“It is important that we re-educate Nigerians on these positive values, while calling on journalists to do more in passing the right message to Nigerians,” the minister stated.

In the first lecture, Cultural Values, Our Greatest Asset, the resource person, Mrs. Clara Obazele, while describing culture as an integral part of every society, said someone who had lost his cultural heritage, had lost his identity.

The veteran journalist, who frowned on people who wanted their children to speak only the English language, or those who took their children to live abroad at an early age, saying such children would embrace the foreign cultures, and at the end of the day, would have no identity.

“African cultures, especially Nigeria’s, inculcate positive values, and anyone who does not identify with these cultures, would have lost these positive values,” Mrs. Obazele said.

In the second lecture by a senior journalist, Ben Tomoloju, entitled The role of media in propagating cultural values for national development, he charged media professionals to do more in sensitising Nigerians to the cultural values of the country.

“Already, journalists are performing well in this regard, as they have brought the message to the consciousness of Nigerians. However, a lot still needs to be done in the area of policy formulation,” Tomoloju said, while calling for a mass mobilisation for cultural action.