By Deborah Coker
Benin, Dec. 17, 2020
The National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) on Thursday identified culture as a roadmap to sustainable development of the country.
Mr Mohammed Yahuza, the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NICO, stated this in Benin at the opening ceremony of a two-day conference on Culture, Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP) and National Development, organised by the institute.
Yahuza noted that the neglect and non-recognition of culture as a roadmap to sustainable development had put many nations in dire straits.
He, therefore, said that a deeper understanding of the place of culture to national development was imperative in Nigeria’s quest for meaningful progress and sustainable socio-political and economic development.
According to him, the Zonal Intervention Fund, which was a product of the Executive-Legislative interface, should be appreciated and commended.
The Executive Secretary said that this was because it had the potential to satisfy the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians for grassroots development in consonance with their peculiar cultural environment.
He explained that the Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP) were a well thought out development strategy designed to foster equitable distribution of development projects nationwide in the constituencies of lawmakers.
According tohim, the projects are bieng executed by various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.
Through the zonal intervention fund, he noted that many MDAs were able to execute several projects and programmes in furtherance of their statutory objectives which would have been impossible due to funding constraints.
Yahuza explained that the conference was designed to sensitise Nigerians to the need to appreciate the critical importance of culture to national development.
“Our institute, for instance, has made a significant impact in promoting culture consciousness and creativity in our secondary school students nationwide,” he said.
Similarly, Mr Friday Itula, the Chairman of the occasion, said that culture played significant role in national development.
Itula, who is also a former member of the House of Representatives, urged the management of the institute to leverage on what was on ground in order to move the country’s cultural heritage to greater heights.
He called for the inclusion of indigenous languages as part of the languages of communication in the nation’s curriculum of learning up to secondary education, to avoid the languages going into extinction.
Itula also called for adequate budgetary allocation geared toward funding ZIP.
Also, Mr Patrick Ikhariale, the special guest of honour, noted that culture was a viable and veritable tool for sustainable development.
Ikhariale noted that culture was the way of life of a people.
