Steve Babaeko declares action points for new tenure
By Oghale Mafuru
Coming on the heels of the re-election and renewed mandate of the executive board of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, led by Mr. Steve Babaeko, the incumbent has declared action points for the new administration as part of his vision to steer the affairs of the association to an enviable height.
Speaking to MARKETING EDGE, the President of the association who expressed delight on the vote of confidence reposed on him by members of the association affirmed that the success of the past administration had been by the collective efforts of members of the executive board who demonstrated commitment and resilience in the pursuit of the vision to revolutionize the advertising industry in Nigeria.
“It is the first time in the almost 50 years history of the association where the president and the entire excos will be re-elected unopposed. I feel very humbled and privileged. Everything we have done is just to see unity in progress because I have a very experienced and robust board and they came to the table with a lot of enthusiasm to make sure that we push the envelope and move the association forward. It has been an amazing team” he said.
While citing some of the milestones of the previous administration, he stressed that his team is determined to build on the antecedents of the past leaders of the association.
In his words: “We are just privileged to build off and stand on the shoulders of the likes of Steve Omojafor, Dr. Biodun Shobanjo, Mrs. Bola Thomas and so many other great people who have been presidents of this great association and hopefully by the time we hit 50 as an association in 2023, we will all look back and say we have come a long way”.
According to the association’s helmsman, the new dispensation will witness deliberate efforts to encourage women participation in the governance of the association and agencies as well as motivate younger agencies to join.
“There is so much we can do, although we have done a lot already. Like they say, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. We know we can always just improve in the area of equity, diversity and inclusion and I want to do a lot that will bring in more women beyond even just the board of the association. How can we raise the stakes for women to be able to occupy their rightful position in the leadership of the different agencies? We want to push that agenda. Then we want to open our arms to young agencies especially because when the ARCON law becomes effective, the entry barrier will be higher” he stated.
Speaking further, the AAAN president while harping on the need for continuity in governance disclosed that efforts will be on top gear to prepare the next leadership of the association in order to sustain the growth trajectory and noteworthy achievements of the association.
“The Chinese will say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time to plant a tree is today. Also, for us is that we have done well with the past two years. This is time to start planning for succession to make sure that the next generation of leaders that take over from us will be prepared to even do better than we have done. So, a lot of those things will form the bedrock of our team for the next two years”.
He expressed confidence that with the signing of the ARCON bill, decorum and sanity will be restored to the advertising industry which will certainly reposition it for growth.
“Congratulations to the APCON Registrar which will now be known as ARCON going forward. I think it is a good development because for almost every field of endeavor, people can’t just jump and misbehave there. Our industry was like an all commerce affair where you could just come and do anything you like. I think the new ARCON law will address all these issues.
“We have lived with this chaos in the marketing communication space for a long time until the AISOP law was promulgated. We are really grateful for that. At least, I feel a sense of sanity beginning to happen in the industry and we look forward to more of that happening in the near future” he added.
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