We are working very hard on APCON Council- Lai Mohammed assures
Respite may soon be on the way for practitioners in the Integrated Marketing Communication Industry (IMC), as the Federal Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed has assured that his ministry was working hard to ensure that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) council will 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 has gone on the matter that he was however, working hard to ensure that APCON’s board will 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 said.
When prodded by MARKETING EDGE to give a time frame when the council will be constituted, Mohammed still insisted on his earlier position that something was being done, however, he was not forthcoming on a definite time frame.
Last month, 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, however, he was not at the event but was represented.
The continued absence of an APCON council, after the last one headed by Mr. Udeme Ufot, CEO SO&U was prematurely sent parking, have become a major cause of worry for operators who reason that the void has stagnated the industry’s proposed reforms and growth.
“The APCON reforms which is designed to revitalize the industry, restrain quacks and portray the industry in new lights, is now stymied by the absence of a Council. That certainly has caused a loss of revenue and respect for the Nigerian advertising industry and even for Government (directly and indirectly),” former President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Kelechi Nwosu, said.
APCON operates through a governing council composed of the Chairman who is appointed by the President of Nigeria from among the Fellows of the profession as well as 19 other members who represent the key stakeholders in the advertising industry and other interests.
The Governing Council sets out broad policies and guidelines for the operation of APCON and generally supervises the implementation of its mandates.
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