'We are repositioning APCON for better performance'
By Kabir Alabi Garba
APART from the spade works undertook by the then Association of the Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN), three key personalities were instrumental to the birth of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) on November 13, 1989.
They are the then Military President Ibrahim Babangida; Prince Tony Momoh as Minister of Information and Culture; as well as Prince Bola Ajibola who was then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
And as APCON rolls out drum to celebrate its 20 years of championing proactive and responsible commercial communication in the country, these distinguished Nigerians will be conferred with the honourary Fellowship of the advertising profession on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at a special anniversary banquet to be hosted at the Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe, V/I, Lagos.
At a briefing on APCON's 20th anniversary celebration held last Thursday in Lagos, the APCON Chairman, Chris Doghudje said that Gen. Babangida would be honoured for signing into law, "the Act 55 of 1988 which established APCON. Also to be conferred with the honourary Fellowship are Prince Tony Momoh and Prince Bola Ajibola, who as Minister of Information and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice respectively, facilitated the promulgation of the APCON law and the birth of the Council," Doghudje added.
He disclosed: "these distinguished Nigerians have conveyed their acceptance of the honourary Fellowship and confirmed their attendance at the banquet to receive the awards."
According to him, the Fellowship is the highest professional status that can be attained by advertising practitioners in Nigeria. It is conferred, at the discretion of the Council, on senior practitioners who have distinguished themselves in the practice and have made significant contributions to the development of the profession.
"Conferring the Fellowship on these distinguished Nigerians is a demonstration of the Council's appreciation of their thoughtfulness in according legislative approval to the profession of advertising which, in itself, reflects their recognition of the vital role of advertising as the engine room and driving force of a thriving economy, he explained.
Also at the anniversary banquet, the Council will confer the APCON Special Recognition Award on Mr. I.S. Moemeke, frpa, chairman of Lowe Lintas Lagos and pioneer chairman of the Council and Prof. Charles Okigbo, pioneer Registrar and Chief Executive of APCON, in appreciation of their selfless and dedicated service in laying the foundation on which APCON stands today.
The Council will also install as Fellows of the profession six advertising practitioners who have been adjudged qualified to be elevated to the elite status. They are Jimi Awosika of Insight Communications; Longley Evru of Angels Communications; Bunmi Oke of 141 Worldwide; Ray Attely of Patos Gino; Yinka Adepoju of Royal Communications; and Rufai Ladipo of STB McCann Lagos.
Another highlight of the 20th anniversary fiesta is the APCON annual Advertising Day which serves to celebrate advertising practice in Nigeria.
"As usual, it will feature the Annual Advertising Lecture which will be delivered by Mr. Ayo Owoborode, frpa, former managing director, of PAL Nigeria Limited. This veteran practitioner and pioneer member of the APCON Council will speak on the challenges of advertising regulation in Nigeria. The event will also feature the ASP Compliance Awards in which a number of advertiser-organisations and their partner-agencies will be recognised for being the most compliant with the pre-exposure clearance regulations during the year," Doghudje noted.
There will also be graduation ceremonies for the award of certificates to 20 candidates who have completed the APCON Advertising professional examinations as well as the induction of newly registered advertising practitioners numbering 185.
The Council, he insisted, had not only come a long way, but had also overcome a number of challenges and accomplished a number of modest achievements in the past 20 years.
"It is poised to forge ahead with the pursuit of its mandate in the years ahead and to this end invites all practitioners, users of advertising services and other stakeholders to support the efforts of the Council," he admonished.
In a few weeks from now, it is learnt that the Council will unveil the 4th edition of its Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion, which aims to achieve a more proactive and responsible regulatory regime. It will, within the same period, introduce a revised syllabus for its professional examinations, which aims at raising the entry qualification into the profession and horning the skills of intending practitioners.
The credit management model for the Nigeria advertising industry, which the Council has worked assiduously to evolve during the last 18 months will also be announced during the same period.
"Looking at these past 20 years and projecting into the future of APCON, one is tempted to ask what if there was no APCON?" Doghudje inferred.
In the last two decades of its existence, APCON has developed a code of practice for the advertising industry in Nigeria which it has revised three times to reflect new local and global development. It has also strived to enforce the code on all practitioners and stakeholders in the industry and has thereby facilitated a responsible practice environment in Nigeria.
Not only that, the Council has also expanded its operation by opening offices in Abuja, Kano, Owerri, Enugu, and Port Harcourt and has thereby made the benefit of advertising regulation available to wider segment of the Nigerian society.
Moreover, APCON has consistently published list of bona fide advertising practitioners in addition to three editions of the official Register of Advertising Practitioners.
APCON accredited the curriculum of advertising course in several departments of Nigeria universities and polytechnics. It has also executed a series of professional development course on vital areas of the advertising practice and thereby facilitated the development of requisite manpower for the country's growing marketing communications industry.
This is in addition to maintaining a functional website as well as a professional library both of which have provided suitable learning, practice and research resources for practitioners, students and researchers.
Also, APCON has intervened to reconcile and resolve intractable debts in the industry and is currently evolving a mechanism to prevent future accumulation of debts.
Following the promulgation of the Advertising Practitioners (Registration, etc) Act number 55 of 1988 by the Federal Government, a 20-member Council which had the doyen of the advertising profession in Nigeria, I.S. Moemeke as chairman, was inaugurated at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu Lagos on November 13, 1989.
Earlier, in January 1988, the National Council of Ministers had adopted the National Mass Communication Policy which underscored the important role of advertising in the nation's social, political and economic development and called for official recognition and regulation of the practice.
The Federal government, which was then headed by General Ibrahim B. Babangida, GCFR, and had Prince Tony Momoh as Minister of Information had been convinced of the necessity to regulate advertising practice in Nigeria and therefore established APCON to carry out the responsibilities of determining who is an advertising practitioner; determining the standard of knowledge and skill required to be attained by prospective advertising practitioners; conducting relevant professional examinations and awarding certificates to successful candidates; establishing and maintaining a register of persons entitled to practice advertising in Nigeria; as well as controlling and regulating advertising in Nigeria in all its aspects and ramifications.
While the operations of APCON in the past 20 years have been geared towards fulfilling the above mandate, the council has, more or less, engendered a responsible advertising environment that guarantees integrity and credibility of commercial communications, and respectability to advertising practitioners in Nigeria. APCON has nurtured the growth of professional advertising as a formidable contributor to the performance of the Nigerian economy.
