N3m vetting fee claim false — ARCON

Apex regulatory body in the nation’s advertising space, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has refuted a recent newspaper report (not Nigerian Tribune’s) that the agency now charges N3 million as advert vetting fee.

Describing the report, tagged ‘Advertisers protest ARCON’s N3 million Advert Vetting’, as false, malicious and a misrepresentation of the vetting fee process, the agency, through its Head, Corporate Affairs, Winifred Akpan, in a statement, insisted that it charges N35,000 as vetting fee for ad materials, and not N3 million, as erroneously claimed in the report.

It added that while there is a deterrent fee of N3 million for organisations producing their advertisements outside Nigeria, it is however not a vetting fee.

ARCON further explained that the deterrent fee is being imposed by the agency as part of its efforts at encouraging the use of local talents.

“The publication is one of the many interviews of the President of Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Mr Osamede Uwubanmwen, in which he misrepresented the fact, misinformed the public and maliciously maligned the reputation of ARCON as an insensitive and anti-industry development agency.

“Vetting fee is N35,000, and not N3million, as headlined in The Punch Newspaper.

“There is a deterrent fee of N3million for organisations that produce their advertisements outside Nigeria. This is not a vetting fee. It is part of ARCON’s efforts, aimed at encouraging the use of local talents and production of advertisements in Nigeria as part of our industry development and growth programme.

“Where an advertisement is produced in Nigeria, no deterrent fee is required for such advertisement,” the agency stated.

It however enjoined organisations to embrace the use of local talents and production of all advertisements, Advertising, and marketing communications directed or targeted at the nation’s market.