Next APCON boss: Maku keeps Ad industry waiting

The Nigerian advertising industry is waiting for the appointment of the next chairman of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), but Labaran Maku, Information minister, who will recommend the candidate to President Goodluck Jonathan for endorsement is occupied with many responsibilities, BusinessDay has learnt.

Two months after the expiration of Lolu Akinwunmi’s tenure, the outgoing chairman whose appointment was made in August 2010, Maku, who is also overseeing the Defence Ministry, is occupied with multiplicity of work, especially those coming from the Defence Ministry in this time of security challenges.

Industry source told BusinessDay that APCON Council has submitted six shortlisted names to the Information Minister who would choose a candidate and submit to the President for endorsement and subsequent appointment. But it is not clear whether the minister and his team had deliberated on the list or whether he will pass the responsibility over to the permanent secretary in the Information Ministry.

“You cannot blame anybody except the minister who they said is occupied with much responsibilities now”, the source said. The source further said the advertising industry was very much interested in who becomes the next APCON chairman following the varied interests and issues surrounding the APCON advertising recent reform under Lolu who succeeded Chris Doghudje. It is interesting that some advertising practitioners favoured the reform because of its protectionist stance while others opposed it because of what they called conflicting interests.

For instance, Kayode Oluwasona, the CEO of Rosabel who welcomed the reform, part of which reads that foreign agencies can operate in Nigeria but their messages would be targeted outside the shores of the country, said this was because at the stage of our development, it is okay. “We are not saying they should not come, but what we are saying is that there is a limit to the takeover they can do at this particular period”.

Some other stakeholders questioned APCON’s role in introducing a reform which also spells out licensing of corporate bodies for practising advertising in Nigeria. The advertising stakeholder said that while it is a mistake for APCON to license corporate bodies to practise advertising, the council should have left the issue of protectionism to such bodies like Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN).

The shortlisted names for the APCON boss position is not clear but Willy Nnorom, Funmi Onabolu are possible candidates who qualify to occupy the position. Currently, it is not clear when the appointment would be made, but the source said the industry was hopeful it could be done before the year end.

By: Daniel Obi  Media