Barely 72 hours after endorsing shortcodes for cultural contents, the Nigerian Communications Commission has granted the National Institute for Cultural Orientation approval to use the Digital Bridge Institute as a venue for its forthcoming executive cultural orientation retreat.
According to a statement on Sunday, the event is designed to educate public and private sector policymakers on Nigerian culture, customs, and traditions.
NICO revealed that the authorisation to utilise the DBI facility was confirmed during a recent meeting between NICO’s management and the NCC’s executive vice chairman.
According to NICO’s Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye, the retreat aims to ensure that laws and policies resonate with the cultural identities of the Nigerian people.
“We expect that policymakers from all sectors, including private sector executives, will participate in this orientation. This retreat will provide lawmakers, local government chairmen, state commissioners, special advisers, and private sector leaders the opportunity to understand the customs, traditions, and culture of Nigeria,” Ajiboye explained.
The NICO CEO also noted that the programme would benefit foreign investors and diplomats by familiarising them with local cultural contexts.
He pointed out challenges faced by telecommunications companies, such as resistance to erecting masts and issues with underground cables, as examples of misunderstandings arising from a lack of cultural awareness.
NICO had communicated with the national assembly, urging lawmakers from both chambers to partake in the cultural orientation exercise.
On Friday, the NCC announced its commitment to support cultural re-orientation, mandating telecommunication companies to ensure subscribers have access to content.
The NCC had also considered NICO’s proposal for telecommunication operators to include cultural content on caller tunes, as well as through shortcodes and robocalls for cultural information.
The collaboration between NCC and NICO aims to ensure that cultural content becomes an integral part of Nigeria’s digital landscape, fostering a stronger cultural identity for future generations.
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, said there was a need to re-orient Nigerians towards their cultural values, warning that foreign content posed a risk to the country’s cultural heritage if domestic content production did not increase.
“If we don’t produce our own content that will drive home the culture we want to preserve, it is the content we are consuming from outside that will shape our culture. NICO has a much bigger part to play here.
“While we provide the pipe that delivers the content, those producing the content have a major stake in influencing the type of content to be shared,” Maida stated.
He further stressed the need for deliberate steps to address the lack of cultural identity in Nigerian media.
“Today, if you watch Nigerian movies, the accent they speak with as well as their dress do not totally reflect Nigeria; even the topics are not rooted in our culture,” he added.
