BusinessDay 21 Aug 2018

Tuesday 21 August 2018
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
13
APCON board re-constitution litmus
test for Ikechi Odigbo-led AAAN
… Industry practitioners expecting actions
Stories by Daniel Obi
Media Business Editor
Nigeria’s Integrated
Marketing
Communication
industry
is relying on
Association of Advertising
Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN to
lead the pack in negotiating
and convincing Buhari administration
to re-constitute
the board of Advertising Practitioners
Council of Nigeria,
APCON.
The absence of the AP-
CON board in the last three
years has not allowed the advertising
apex body to function
at full capacity and this
has cold implications for the
advertising industry valued
at about N150 billion.
Statutorily, AAAN has the
largest number of 10 members
in the 21 board membership
of APCON. Though,
out of the 10, it has ceded one
each to OAAN and MIPAN
respectively.
Recently, the new president
of AAAN, Ikechi Odigbo
promised that there are plans
to push for the proper constitution
of APCON council. He
did not elaborate.
When he took office at the
association’s general meeting
in Abeokuta last month,
Ikechi said “there are plans
to push for the proper constitution
of the Advertising
Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria
(APCON) Council”. The
statement is however not
certain whether he is leveraging
the previous president,
Kayode Oluwasona’s plans or
he wants to construct another
strategy for this purpose
under his administration.
According to sources,
the statement will amount
to rhetoric if there are not
enough influence and sway
on the presidency in Abuja
since government sees the
constitution of APCON council
as a political decision.
Another possible move
could be to wrest APCON
from the tight fist of government,
move for the amendment
of the law and allow
it to operate independently
with industry funds, the
source said. The industry is
therefore watching on which
way Ikechi goes to realize industry
expectation.
For over three year, AP-
CON, Nigeria’s advertising
apex regulatory body is yet
to function at full capacity
due to absence of a board.
During his tenure, Kayode
pushed the agenda for AP-
CON council re-constitution
vigorously. In July last year,
Kayode led a delegation to
the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo
to plead with him for
the board to save advertising
practitioners from undue exposure
and protect the country’s
image by re-constituting
APCON council.
Oluwasona recognized
that the absence of APCON
made it difficult for the country
to achieve descent and
progressive advertising. He
recognised that the non-constitution
of the council has
had grave implications for the
industry.
“So you can imagine in
the last three years APCON
Rotary Club of Akowonjo earmarks project
for execution, commissioning
Rotary Club of Akowonjo,
one of the
clubs under the Rotary
International,
Nigeria, is set to commission
various projects in the
Alimosho Local Government
Area of Akowonjo the club’s
immediate catchment community
which also is the
largest local government in
Lagos State. This is in line
with the club’s promise to execute
impactful projects for
the 2018 to 2019 Rotary year.
This revelation was
Ikechi Odigbo
made by the President of
Rotary Club of Akowonjo,
Rotarian Olabisi Taiwo
during her investiture as
the 3rd female president of
the 33- year old club chattered
by late Past Governor
of Rotary International
District 9110, Martin Itotoi
recently at the Westown
Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos.
In an interview after the
event, the president said
all was set for the commissioning
of some of the club’s
projects in the Alimosho/
Ijedi Iyoha
Akowonjo area of the state by
the District Governor, Rotarian
Kola Sodipo.
She identified the projects
for commissioning
to include the ICT facility
at Abati/Rauf Aregbesola
Primary School, Alimosho;
Flag off of the 2018
Adult Literacy Programme;
launching of a new Adult
Literacy Signage erected for
the school by her club; Tree
Planting at the school’s
premises and donations to
the Little Saints Orphanage,
had barely had a council for
longer than four months.
And when the council is not
there, our trade, our business,
our industry actually
suffers over exposure. The
kind of campaigns, communication
that is responsible,
decent, progressive advertising
cannot be achieved
because it is the council that
is set up to drive it.’’
Kayode attributed the unwholesome
campaigns seen
in the last national elections
happened because there was
no regulatory body to control
political advertising.
Kayode has however
handed over the baton to
Ikechi to continue where he
stopped. Advertisers are waiting
for the next move on this
objective.
Shasha, Alimosho, Lagos.
According to Taiwo, the
District Governor’s visit will
give the club an opportunity
to raise funds towards further
execution of other projects
within the Rotary year. As
she puts it, “after the day’s
projects commissioning,
the evening fellowship with
the District Governor will
culminate in an auction sale
with the immediate proceeds
going to District 9110 Educational
and Welfare Endowment
Fund (DEWEF)”.
‘GEM’s mission is to
enhance growth in light
manufacturing industry’
The last few decades
have given birth to
the rise of light manufacturing
and this has
in turn resulted in a dramatic
rise to the country’s national
income.
It is not news that laborintensive
industries provide
growth opportunities and have
become key economic drivers
of many nations, this is why it is
key to capture the opportunities
arising from the relocation
of light manufacturing from
higher-income countries to
lower income nations.
To support this effort, GEM
Project said it is investing in a
number of initiatives including:
Leather: Recognizing the
important role of the leather
sector to the Nigerian economy,
the GEM Project said it
is providing huge support in
the development of the first
Nigerian leather policy.
“In line with Government’s
commitment to diversifying
the economy from oil to nonoil
economy, and the position
of leather as both domestic
industrial raw material and
export commodity, the GEM
Project provided some expertise
and funding to the multistakeholders’
effort to produce
the much overdue policy that
will govern the operation of
the leather industry in Nigeria.
The draft policy, which was
validated in Sokoto and Aba
by relevant stakeholders has
been submitted to relevant
Ministries and awaits presentation
at the Federal Executive
Council for consideration and
approval.
Automotive Industry: One
of the key sectors of development
is transportation; GEM,
in a statement said it provided
support to this indus-
try due to its huge potential
for growth and job creation.
“The current intervention is
restricted to the automobile
spare parts sub-sector, to assist
the ever-growing need for
vehicle spare parts across the
country and government’s
drive for import substitution
responsibility. In a bid to start
up the intervention with clear
understanding of the value
chain, GEM implemented an
industry mapping of Nnewi
automobile spare parts hubs,
concluded a study on legality/licensing
of replacement
auto parts manufacturing in
Nigeria (using Anambra and
Kaduna as key areas of field
research). The result of the
survey reveals that most of
the replacement parts produced
by MSMEs in the Nigeria
automobile spare parts
industry are generic and do
not infringe on the Original
Equipment Manufacture’s
(OEMs) Intellectual Property.
In addition, GEM further
said that it commissioned
additional study in some
other sub-sectors within the
light manufacturing industry,
aimed to spur investments and
enhance their performance.
The key objectives of the studies
is to identify opportunities
and market failure(s) for each
sector with the focus of uncovering
the potential areas for development
through public and
private sector investments. The
study is therefore, expected to
produce a market assessment
report for the automotive /
spare parts sector, the renewable
energy industry and six
(6) value chains in the Agroprocessing
industry, which
includes; Cocoa, Citrus, Cassava,
Sugarcane, Tomatoes and
Sesames.
Star Beer extends
millionaires campaign
Star Lager Beer, has
extended the Star
United We Shine
Millionaires Promo
by another 30 days to allow
for more consumers in
more regions of the country
to partake in the promo
and win.
The promo which was
launched on the 15th of June,
2018 will now end on 15th
of September, 2018 a month
after the original end date.
Consumers will continue
to win prizes and millions of
Naira from the crown corks
of Limited Edition Bottles
Of Star Lager with a winning
code that is redeemable via a
USSD dial of *566*20# .
The Star Lager promo
has on offer cash prizes
of N1 million, N2 million,
N5 million and the mega
dream cash of N10 million
for Star consumers across
Nigeria. These are in addition
to millions of free
drinks and other items
available for win.
Designed to reward loyal
consumers, Star Lager with
this move, is reinforcing its
commitment as a consumer
focused brand.