NICO Highlights Benefits Of Intangible Cultural Heritage

National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) has emphasised the significance of intangible cultural heritage, highlighting its role in promoting national unity, cultural diversity, and socio-economic development.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja yesterday to mark the inaugural International Day of ICH, NICO’s executive secretary, Otunba Abiodun Ajiboye, said;  “The international Day for Intangible Cultural Heritage is a day for us to re-dedicate ourselves to our living culture and to renew our temperance and creative impulse in such an exponential way that will impinge on all sectors in all ramifications.

“Intangible Cultural Heritage means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural space associated therewith, that communities, groups and in some cases, individual recognise as part of their cultural heritage.”

He added that intangible cultural heritage is manifested in domains such as oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle.

Ajiboye urged Nigerians to take ownership of their cultural heritage, emphasising the importance of community participation.

“We must work together to preserve and promote our intangible cultural heritage for future generations,” he said.