Why It’s difficult to regulate digital marketing in Nigeria- Neukleos CEO

Amidst calls by stakeholders for proper regulation of the digital marketing sector, Chief Executive Officer of Neukleos, a digital marking agency, Mrs. Bukola Akingbade, has stated that it would be difficult to regulate the digital agencies because government lacks the infratsructure to do so.

In an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE in her Ikeja office, Akingbade stated that the authorities in the country could not enforce laws or regulate the digital agencies because most of the social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc, on which they deploy contents are not based in Nigeria.

”Countries that have succeeded in regulating the digital space have invested time, money and capabilities in building their cyber authority, like China, where if you say I don’t want this person to do this, you are not just saying it, you can enforce it,” she said.

” Here it is very difficult to regulate digital marketing. The best they can do is to penalize the clients whose adverts you saw. Imagine if a brand is advertising on Facebook, APCON cannot enforce the law on Facebook. So my point is that regulation cannot be very effective when you can’t regulate across the structure.”

She however admonished that efforts should be directed at improvement of standadisation. ”What I think we can do is to improve on our standardization. In the UK, for instance, the standardization body is called the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), they standardize media owners. That helps to establish a uniform standard for the industry.”

“The first IAB in Africa was established last year in South Africa. So it is not easy to do, but there is a globally recognized bureau, where people can get a charter. We have been having that discussion but it takes a long time,” she said.

But in the absence of a proper regulation, operators in the digital marketing sector are now working at forming a digital marketing association. This is part of an effort to ensure sanity in the sector and improve standards. According to Akingbade talks have reached advance stage with regards to the formation of the association. But she would not say when the sectoral body would likly become operational.