APCON board reconstitution to wait as admen protest
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday inaugurated some of the boards of parastatals and agencies under his ministry and conspicuously missing from the line-up was the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
The implication of this action for Nigerian ad practitioners is that the more than two year wait for a new APCON council may not end soon, and the industry will continue without a regulator for the foreseeable future.
The APCON board that was named by the administration about two months ago was flatly rejected by operators because it flouted APCON’s Advertising Law requirement that council members should be marketing practitioners and fellows of APCON. And a protest letter was immediately dispatched to Abuja to formally point out the gaffe.
The disputed council members are Hon. Jacob Sunday (Chairman), Chief Dayo Abatan, Aloysius Okafor, Sani Tulu, Akor Sunday, Ismaila Umar Sifawa and Murtala Adamu Atiku.
Their appointment contravened 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.
Also, seven persons are to be appointed by the minister, one of whom shall be from the Ministry of Information and the rest from among other interests in advertising, which in the opinion of the minister, ought to be adequately represented.
The list was roundly condemned by the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), with support from some of Nigeria’s advertising bigwigs and icons, including Chairman Troyka Group, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, Chairman of STB McCann, Sir Steve Omojafor, Chairman Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN) Board of Trustees, Chief Foluso Babu Akinbobola, Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, former APCON Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Prima Garnet, Group Chief Executive Officer of Centerspread, Mr. Kola Ayanwale and Chairman Government Relations Liason Committee and the list goes on.
Some of them have insisted that the only lasting solution to the undue government interference in APCON is to cut the agency lose from government involvement by self-funding it.
“As it is often said, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. For as long as the government continues to fund APCON, so long will it continue to appoint politicians and whomsoever or assume the right to meddle in the affairs of APCON. Except APCON is able to fund itself, this nonsense and illegality will continue,” Shobanjo said.
MARKETING EDGE gathered that the list took the Minister by surprise, as the new nominees names were compiled and announced without any inputs by the Honourable Minister of Information, whom we reliably gathered was deeply upset and miffed by government’s self-inflicted embarrassment and slip. The Minister was said to have been particularly saddened for being sidelined on an issue that falls exclusively within the purview of his ministerial jurisdiction.
The Minister, who expressed regret about the long delay in the appointment of the council and its implication on the industry, has since taking up the case with the Presidency. He is working to ensure that the lacuna is resolved soon.
The boards that was inaugurated by the Minister include those of the News Agency of Nigeria; Voice of Nigeria; National Gallery of Art; National Orientation Agency; National Commission for Museums and Monuments; National Theatre and National Troupe; and National Council for Arts and Culture.
Others are: National Institute for Cultural Orientation; Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation; National Films and Videos Censors Board; Nigerian Film Corporation; National Broadcasting Commission and National Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation.
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