Advertising Regulation Suffers as APCON Council Remains in Limbo

Players in the nation’s marketing communications industry are confused over the federal government’s seeming nonchalant attitude towards the re-constitution of the governing council of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

The council has been without a constituted board for over three years and this is said to be affecting the growth of the multi-billion-naira industry as many advertising practitioners and operators in other sectoral bodies are showing reluctance in fulfilling their professional responsibilities.

Between 2014 and now, the leadership of various sectoral bodies had explored many op- portunities, including visiting the state house and the office of the Minister of Information and Culture, to impress it on the federal government on the importance of the council, but nothing has been achieved in this regard.

As the highest regulatory body in the advertising industry, operations are believed to have become weak in the last three years because of lack of constituted authority to sit down and take decisions on sundry issues.

In 2014, the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, appointed a non-practitioner as APCON Chairman and the appointment was rejected by stakeholders in the industry as an affront.

President Jonathan, had immediately reversed the appointment and constituted another one headed by the Group CEO of the SO&U, Mr. Udeme Ufot.

Despite the acceptability of the Ufot led council, it was dissolved again alongside other parastatals’ boards in July 2015. As a result of the strategic importance of the council to the effective operation of APCON, pressures were mounted on the Buhari administration to quickly reconstitute the board, but nothing was done until December last year when another set of non-advertising and marketing practitioners were again appointed into the board.

Those appointed then were Hon. Jacob Sunday (Chairman), Chief Dayo Abatan, Aloysius Okafor, Sani Tulu, Akor Sunday, Ismaila Umar Sifawa and Murtala Adamu Atiku

The appointment was said to have run contrary to the APCON law which demands that council members must be fellows of the regulatory body. The Nigerian Advertising Laws, Rules and Regulations Act 55 of 1988 (as amended), states that a chairman, who should be appointed by the President, shall be a distinguished fellow of the profession.

Immediately the announcement was made, practitioners in the country were quick to condemn, in strong terms, the

alleged appointment of nonadvertising and marketing practitioners into the council and move ahead to advocate autonomy for APCON.

Top practitioners had stated that the exercise was in clear breach of the Act setting up the institution, insisting that government should not be seen to be flouting the constitution of the country.

The federal government was believed to have goofed for the third consecutive times for announcing names of politicians and non-advertising professionals as nominees for the yet to be reconstituted council which had been delayed for over two years now.

Speaking to THISDAY on the development during the week, the President Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, reiterated the need for advertisers to join other stakeholders to clamour for APCON to be properly instituted.