The National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) has expressed its resolve to expand its scope of imbibing cultural values in the younger generations across the country, stressing that the future of any nation depends on the good cultural foundation it lays for her youths.
Executive Secretary/CEO of NICO, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye made this known at the 2024 edition of the Institute’s Children’s Cultural Fiesta, organized in Abuja on Wednesday, February 14, 2024 at the FCT Education Resource Centre (ERC) with the theme “Culture, Creativity and the Nigerian Youth”.
According to him, culture is a vital force in the development agenda of a nation that provides the bedrock through which creative abilities are expressed and developed and therefore imperative for the younger generation to be adequately sensitized and equipped with the necessary cultural skills in order to appreciate the potentials embedded in our rich cultural heritage.
His words “Culture is life and a country that does not appreciate its culture is a failed society. The Nigerian society today has decided to appreciate its culture and that is why we are saying there is the need to strongly communicate our cultural values to become more prominent through the children by inculcating the right values in them”.
“We make bold to say that most of the troubles we have in our society today is as a result of the fact that we have lost our cultural values. Today, the children have made food, danced and spoken our dialects which are all important aspects of our culture”.
Further tracing the development of any nation to its cultural roots, Ajiboye said government policies and the general governance of a state rests solely on its cultural beliefs and any society that loses its cultural value has advertently lost its national identity.
Caleb Nor
Media Asst.-ES
NICO, Abuja