NICO boss visits American university

In a meeting with the Dean of Liberal Arts, SUIC, Professor Alan Vaux, the Executive Secretary gave a brief on NICO, its mandate and core programmes, such as the Nigerian Dress Culture, Nigerian Indigenous Language Training, NICO Cultural Clubs, among others, and stressed the need for the University to collaborate with the Institute. Dr. Ayakoroma […]

In a meeting with the Dean of Liberal Arts, SUIC, Professor Alan Vaux, the Executive Secretary gave a brief on NICO, its mandate and core programmes, such as the Nigerian Dress Culture, Nigerian Indigenous Language Training, NICO Cultural Clubs, among others, and stressed the need for the University to collaborate with the Institute.

Dr. Ayakoroma also solicited the support of the University in respect of sponsoring capacity building workshops for staff and other cultural agencies to enhance the Institute’s commitment to achieving the mandate of harnessing culture for national development.

He noted that the academic training programme of the Institute in Lagos, Nigeria, is gaining momentum, and that the Institute has initiated “Dress Nigerian Day,” at the federal government level, in furtherance of its internal staff dress policy of appearing in native attires on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, every week.

In his response, Dean of Liberal Arts, Professor Alan Vaux, thanked the Executive Secretary for the visit and promised to assist NICO in achieving its set goals and programmes through the necessary collaboration.

He commended Dr. Ayakoroma for displaying the right attitude and determination to succeed, noting that the University is set to retain the traditions of the people, hence the change from Institute for Black American Studies to Institute for Africana Studies.

The Executive Secretary also held meetings with other principal officers of the University such as the Dean, College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Professor Gary Kolb, and the Director of the School of Journalism, Professor William Freivogel, as well as Professor Uche Onyebadi, also of the School of Journalism.

In their various responses, they collectively agreed to do everything possible to collaborate with NICO to execute various programmes, especially an International workshop on the Cultural Imperatives in Good Governance being proposed by NICO, the Quarterly Media Workshop for Arts Writers/Editors, as well as capacity building training programmes for staff of the Institute.

The high point of the meetings for the day was an evening session: “One-on-One with Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma,” a platform designed for the Executive Secretary to have an interactive session with some principal officers and students of the University.