Re-constitute APCON council now, ad practitioners charge FG

PRACTITIONERS in the nation’s marketing communications space have, again, charged the federal government to reconstitute the board of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), it dissolved on resumption of office, in 2015, to enable the industry maximise its potential.

The practitioners made the call at the 35th edition of the Annual General Meeting of the Outdoor Advertisers Association of Nigeria (OAAN), held recently in Lagos.

Speaking at the meeting tagged, ’OOH Business and Emerging Realities’, conducted  both virtually and physically, the association’s  president, Mr. Emmanuel Ajufo  likened  the industry without a properly- constituted  APCON-board to ‘a sheep without shepherd’.

He noted that the refusal of the federal government to re-constitute the APCON board it dissolved in 2015 bore eloquent testimony to the level of disdain the industry was being held by  those in authority.

Ajufo, therefore, called on sectoral heads in the industry to come together with the aim of putting  pressure on the relevant government agencies saddled with the responsibility of constituting the board with the aim of getting the issue permanently resolved.

He also stressed the need for practitioners in the sector to come together to enable them effectively project the nation’s image, as the 60th anniversary of the country approaches.

The meeting, which had heads of key sectoral bodies in attendance, also provided the opportunity for stakeholders to address the Covid-19 pandemic-induced challenges bedeviling the industry, and proffered solutions capable of lifting the advertising sub-sector out of its present doldrums.

“Our industry is like a flock of sheep without a shepherd. This is because APCON has no Council, and this had been going on even before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Meanwhile, APCON without a Council is doing fairly well. One can only imagine what would happen if there were a council,” Ajufo said.

Speaking in the same vein, the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN),  Mr. Steve Babaeko, also  decried the  non-constitution of the APCON Council,  adding that the prolonged absence of a council in the apex regulatory body in the industry had posed a huge challenge to the entire industry.

He, however, expressed his readiness to collaborate with other sectoral heads in the industry, with the aim of making the relevant authorities  do the right thing regarding constituting a council for the agency.

 

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