Engage services of professional native speakers when writing copy – Kankarofi
By Abimbola Mohammed
Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi, former Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), has tasked creative agencies to work with native speakers of different languages in Nigeria when writing ad copies in a particular language.
He made this call while giving a speech at the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) Patron’s Day 2022. He also expressed disappointment at agencies that air commercials originally produced in some other countries like Ghana.
“At the professional level, I must convey particularly to the head of agencies, my disappointment because most of your Hausa commercials are done by non-natives. The unfortunate thing is that whatever you put in the copies in Hausa Language, I am the one that does the vetting. So, I keep bringing it back to you until you get it right. Some of the copies in Hausa Language address a woman as a man, which is not right.
“Last week, somebody did a commercial in Ghana and brought it to Nigeria to be aired. I think you guys need to be a little bit more professional. No Nigerian commercial will be aired in Ghana; I hope you know it because you have your offices in Ghana too. Surprisingly everybody throws everything at Nigeria.”
Advising the agencies present at the event, Alhaji Kankarofi said: “You do the buying, your materials should conform with APCON laws and even the Nigerian standards. Stop bringing commercials that will hurt our feelings. Recently, I saw a commercial of Peter Obi; they are de-marketing instead of marketing the man in Hausa. I lived and grew up in Enugu, but I can’t speak nor write Igbo. I may be able to speak a little bit of it, but to write a copy in Igbo is a NO for me.”
He encouraged agencies and copy writers to take note of the mistakes and also do the needful by getting a professional native speaker to write their copies in any language required.
“My appeal is for you to make your Hausa copy a standard one. If it is Yoruba or Igbo make it standard. Even while I was in office I felt very personal about it. I recall during my younger days at Kano Broadcasting Corporation, when we saw this type of commercials, we returned them instantly. But these days there are too many radio and television stations and everybody wants money,” he said.
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