APCON: A cub at 33?
By Felicia Nwosu
Promoting responsible and ethical advertising practice, acting as the conscience of the society and consumers’ watchdog while managing the needs and interests of the stakeholders in Nigeria’s advertising industry are the vision and mission crafted for the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) by the Advertising Practitioners Registration Act No. 55 of 1988, as amended by Act No. 93 of 1992 and Act No. 116 of 1993 (now Advertising Practitioners Registration Act Cap A7 of 2004). These are no mean responsibilities. Discharging them, therefore, requires a lion’s heart.
It should be recalled that APCON came into existence in January 1988 as a professional association. This was as a result of the adoption of the national mass communication policy that articulated the relevance and leadership role of advertising to the nation’s social, political and economic development. There followed the quest for official recognition by government and transformation into a regulatory body.
The need to establish an institution to regulate advertising practice became apparent as the industry continued to expand in volume of business and complexity. This culminated in the establishment of APCON by Decree 55 of 1988, later renamed Act 55 of 1988 and was officially inaugurated by late Prince Tony Momoh. APCON as the regulatory body for the practice of advertising in Nigeria started operation in 1990 with the employment of the pioneer registrar, Dr. Charles Okigbo.
33 years down the line, the advertising regulatory body for advertising practitioners is still dogged by lack of autonomy and bureaucratic bottlenecks. For years now, APCON has remained without a governing council or board. Despite various interventions and concerns being raised by practitioners in the industry, and much unlike other regulatory bodies, the regulatory body has yet to be weaned from overwhelming political influence. It has, for a long time, been the fall guy of the power play in the supervising ministry. Buffeted at all sides by growing tides of official control and meddlesomeness, the control tower of advertising practice in Nigeria has been largely unable to fulfil its statutory functions as an industry watchdog.
The return to democratic government in 1999 was supposed to breathe new life into the Council. The opposite, however, was what obtained. The Council was starved of funds on the basis of the common story of “no money” associated with government. The Obasanjo administration insisted that government could not continue to fund “a professional institute,” as APCON was depicted.
The same scenario reared its ugly head again when a letter dated July 16, 2015, signed by the then Head of the Federal Civil Service, Danladi Kifasi, asked the Council to vacate and relinquish its powers to APCON Registrar under the present administration of President Muhammad Buhari, through the boards of agencies, commissions and parastatals. This was a big embarrassment to the then newly constituted Board of then Chairman of the Council, Udeme Ufot.
In 2016, many thought that respite was soon on its way for practitioners in the Integrated Marketing Communication Industry (MCI), as the Federal Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed assured that his ministry was working hard to ensure that the APCON’s Council would soon be constituted. The minister told MARKETING EDGE in an exclusive interview that though he was not at liberty to say to what extent the ministry had gone on the matter, he was, however, working hard to ensure that APCON’s Board would be in place in no distant future. “We are working very hard on it, but I am not at liberty to tell you what we are doing,” Mohammed had said.
Again, the then former Senate Committee Head for Information, Eyinnaya Abaribe, blamed the Ministry of Information for the delay in setting up the Council, noting that his committee had done all it needed to do, and all that was left was for the ministry to take appropriate action. Abaribe spoke during the APCON Advertising Summit held in Lagos, where stakeholders had expected an official position on the APCON Board from the minister who was supposed to the be the Chief Host.
In the same year, the then Registrar, Alhaji Garba Kankarofi said that neither the Federal Minster of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed nor himself could do anything to change the status quo.
Kankarofi told MARKETING EDGE that the prerogative of setting up a new APCON Council lies within the jurisdiction of President Muhammad Buhari and that the Minister and APCON have both done all within their powers to get the President to act to no avail. He noted that the regulatory body had written several letters to the President, explaining the importance of the Council and why it should be set up.
“The formation of APCON Council is beyond me; it is beyond the Federal Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Right now, the decision is left in the hands of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammad Buhari because we have written and we have made our case known to him,” Kankarofi said.
The then APCON Registrar further noted that it was left for President Buhari to determine the time for the reconstitution of the Council, adding that he was glad that APCON law had been signed by the President.
“There are national issues that are very apt and more agile than my Council. Anytime it suits the President to release the Council, he will but I am very glad that he has signed our law and that is a sign of good things to come.”
Speaking on the implication of the continuous absence of the Board to the practitioners and Nigeria as a whole, president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko said: “Advertising without APCON Governing Council is like flying an aircraft without the control tower; you are putting the entire industry at risk. We need to do the needful.”
Meanwhile, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Kemi Fabusoro, acknowledged that APCON is the one still championing issues, though the federal government is the over-all body while APCON reports to the ministry, and has been doing a lot of collaborative work with them.
“APCON has been championing a lot of salient issues with the minister despite the fact that we don’t have a Council, though things would have been much faster and effective if there was a Council.”
She mentioned that members can only act through APCON and not directly with the minister, adding that whatever that is still in the pipeline, such as framework were submitted to APCON since they are not having a direct relationship with the government, but through APCON.
Chief Operating Officer of SO&U, Biodun Adefila, shared the opinion that the absence of APCON for such a long time is not good for its members. She stated that there is no organisation that can function well without a head, while noting that members are all working hard to see the reconstitution of the Council. “APCON not being in council is having negative implication on its members, and I know all Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) are working towards it,” she said.
Speaking on the implication of not constituting the APCON Board, Otis Ojeikhoa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Brands Optimal, noted that, indeed, APCON plays a regulatory role for the entire MCI industry, therefore, not having a principal at the place driving the helms of affairs will always impact on decision making, forecasting, leadership, governance and drive into the future. He noted that APCON still regulates, but for the fact that there is no leader means “you are in a car without a driver, which could head to any direction”. “It is in the interest of the entire MCI industry as a whole; there is an urgent need for a principal to be appointed to direct the affairs of APCON and I think it is taking too long. That is why there is no innovation; nothing new coming in from the Council, and the industry is evolving while the regulator is not,” he said.
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