Industry crosses hands waiting for new APCON chairman

Ad industry operators who are expecting the appointment of a new chairman of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) five months after the expiration of the tenure of the outgoing chairman, Lolu Akinwunmi, have relapsed their waiting game as government does not seems to be in a hurry to appoint a new chairman.

Some of those who spoke with BusinessDay said government may be too busy with other issues or that the APCON chairmanship was not a ‘lucrative’ one to attract pressure from politicians who would be interested on who was appointed to the position.

An industry operator who prefers anonymity said the delay in the appointment will equally cause any major policy decision in APCON to wait, as the inauguration of a council of APCON will follow the appointment of a new chairman. Presently, the operator said various committees may not be working as effectively as they should, but said the secretariat was on hand to see to the running of the council.

Three years tenure of the outing chairman of APCON expired September 27, 2013, and it is expected that the chairman would continue in office until government appoints a new chairman.

Already, six names have been forward to Labaran Maku, minister of information, the supervising minister of the APCON, from which to pick one who must be a fellow of the advertising profession. The way it stands now, it is not clear when Maku will make such appointment and the industry still waits.

By: Daniel Obi