APCON new chairman rolls out immediate task

The new chairman of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), who was appointed last week, Udeme Uffot, group managing director of SO&U, has said his immediate task will be to engage with stakeholders to chart a course for the industry.

“I come from the advertising agency part of the business and APCON council comprises the advertising industry, media buying, print media, broadcasting and advertisers, and what I will do first and foremost is to engage with them to find out what the issues are. It will be consulting first to form understanding as to what to do,” he told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.

I feel extremely challenged by the confidence reposed in him by the industry to take on the responsibility, especially at this time the industry is going through the implementation of code of practice, Ufot said, saying “I have the confidence that with the support of the industry, I will do my best to grow the industry.”

With his pedigree and experience, analysts who welcomed the appointment, expect Ufot to take APCON to a new level.

Ufot, who is a towering figure in Nigeria’s marketing communication, began his advertising career as art director with Desmark Advertising. He later joined Insight Communications where he became deputy creative director. He resigned to establish SO&U in 1990.

Udeme’s appointment has ended the controversy over the earlier appointment of Ngozi Enioma, who was said to have been appointed in violation of the provisions of the law establishing APCON.

Last year, the former minister of information, Labaran Maku had acknowledged government error in the appointment of Enioma and promised that the mistake would be corrected.

One of the issues that will confront Ufot as APCON chairman includes some provisions in the advertising reform. While some players have endorsed the reform, others said some of the provisions in the reform are counter productive

For instance, last year George Thorpe, the chairman of MediaReach OMD, among other stakeholders, believed that the clause that places a level of restriction on the practice of advertising and marketing by foreigners in Nigeria was not well defined.

Speaking on the APCON reform, Ufot said in a published report that there was a lot of work to be done, adding that it required sacrifice. “I need wisdom to deal with this. With the experience of the council members, the APCON reform will continue. It’s a challenge and an opportunity to make a change. The APCON reform followed due process. We will sanitise the system,” he said in the report.

Daniel Obi