By JOSHUA OLOMU

The Federal Government has created Nigerian Academy for Cultural Studies (NACUS), a specialised institution to train individuals for innovative studies and the development of Nigeria’s culture and history.

Otunba Biodun Ajiboye, Executive Secretary of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) made this known in a statement on Monday.

According to the executive secretary, the specialised academy will serve as the nation’s citadel of cultural training.

He said the institution, which was hitherto the training school of NICO, now has the approval of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

He added that NACUS has received accreditation to run a programme leading to the award of National Diploma in Cultural Administration & Management (NDCAM), while its Postgraduate Diploma programme is affiliated with the Nasarawa State University.

According to Ajiboye, the development is a pointer to the fact that Nigeria under the present administration has seen the need to embrace culture at its highest level.

“We appreciate the federal government for the rebranding and elevation of the institution, which was hitherto the training school of NICO, to a full-fledged higher institution for cultural education and training.

“This is a clear indication that the President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda has come to fully recognise culture and the need for cultural renaissance to take center stage in its policy making processes.

“The nation has seen the need to incorporate adequate cultural content in our school curriculum both in the primary, secondary and tertiary education systems.

“What this means is that we are able to shed off the foreign cultural antecedents that we have inadvertently imbibed over the years.

“We will now begin to realise the importance of our innate cultural essentialities which will confer on us as a people, a great dose of originality, thereby paving way for adequate cultural identity,” he said.

Ajiboye noted that the accreditation and affiliation have provided an opportunity for certification of individuals who have obtained the Diploma to proceed for the Postgraduate Diploma programme and eventually enroll for their Master’s degree.

He said efforts were already in place to involve the Head of Service of the Federation to ensure thatcertificates from the academy are accepted in the civil service and beyond.

He disclosed that “according to Hannatu Musawa, the Honourable Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy,the institution shall have campusesin four geographicalzones of North, South and East and in the FCT. (NAN)