Appointment of non-advertising fellow as APCON chairman a mistake – Maku

Government has admitted error in the appointment of a non-advertising fellow as the chairman of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) against the body’s Act. The Office of the Secretary to the government of the Federation announced June last year that the Presidency had approved the appointment of Ngozi Enyioma as the new APCON chairman.

Section 2 sub-section 1 of the 1988 Act setting up the Council stipulates that the Council shall consist of a chairman who shall be a distinguished fellow of the profession to be appointed by the President. But the Presidency made the appointment in error against the rule.

Speaking with BusinessDay at the international seminar on political advertising, perception building and voter education, organised by the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) in Abuja last weekend, Labaran Maku, minister of information, said “definitely as you are aware, there has been some mistakes because the law is very clear on who becomes the APCON chairman, it is a specific professional board. We are sorting it out.”

It is not clear the direction government would take, according to the minister, to ‘sort it out.’ Whether it would amend APCON’s law to accommodate its interest of disallowing an operator becoming a regulator or whether it would follow the law.

The APCON Council had at the expiration of the tenure of Lolu Akinwunmi on September 27, last year, as chairman of the Council, submitted six names, who are fellows of the profession, to the minister of information, the supervising ministry from which to pick one person to serve as chairman. But the Presidency ignored the list by appointing Enyioma.

On digital migration, the minister said the government was working hard to meet up with the June 17, 2015, date, as set by the International Telecommunication Union ( ITU).

According to him, the problem on the transition is at the level of the states. In the last three years, we have been on this road working very hard and agreeing on templates and deadlines. “We are urging the states to make it a priority, and we have asked the states to be ready by October 31, this year, to hook on to a signal digital distributor,” he said.

The minister, who said that analogue had been switched off in Jos on July 5, this year, said further that between then and October 31, this year, the government will switch on some cities to the platform. 

“We have agreed on set up box and we have standadised it across ECOWAS countries so that the boxes can work in Ghana and in West African countries,” he disclosed.

The government is reaching conclusion on the emergence of a second signal distributor in addition to NTA, he said, saying “with all this, we will be freeing the spectrum that is being used to broadcast TV signals for internet and broadband development.’’

Daniel Obi