The Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners’ Association, APAOC Oyo State Chapter, Dr Sola Alimi, on Monday called for the inclusion of registered advertising practitioners in the activities of the Oyo State Signage and Advertising Agency (OYSAA) to strengthen regulation and improve standards in the industry.

Alimi, who is also the Head of the Department of Art, Design and Print Technology at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, made the call while speaking on the challenges confronting advertising practice in Oyo State.

The Fellow Registered Practitioner in Advertising (FRPA) of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) said involving experienced and duly registered practitioners in the regulatory process would create a better interface between government and industry professionals and ensure that policies reflect the realities of advertising practice.

According to him, government should consider appointing qualified practitioners into OYSAA to contribute their professional experience to the development and implementation of advertising regulations.

“The government can look into co-opting brilliant practitioners into OYSAA, brilliant practitioners that are duly registered. That is also going to be a way of ensuring that there is balance between what the government is doing and what the industry represents,” he said.

Alimi said such collaboration would allow practitioners and regulators to bring their respective experiences to the table and develop a more effective framework for managing the advertising sector.

He noted that clearer regulatory guidelines were needed, particularly in the area of outdoor advertising, including billboard registration, approval, placement, size and spacing.

The APAOC chairman said the absence of clear and consistently implemented guidelines could create uncertainty for practitioners and encourage illegal outdoor advertising.

He also called for stronger monitoring of advertising activities across outdoor, broadcast, print and digital platforms to ensure compliance with professional and ethical standards.

Alimi stressed that only properly registered practitioners should be allowed to practise advertising, warning that the activities of untrained operators and “charlatans” could damage the reputation of the profession.

He also advocated effective coordination between the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), OYSAA and other relevant authorities to avoid regulatory overlaps and unnecessary financial burdens on practitioners.

According to him, multiple regulatory fees and overlapping responsibilities could negatively affect the profitability and sustainability of advertising businesses.

He said regulation should be streamlined so that practitioners could comply with clearly defined requirements without being subjected to multiple charges for similar regulatory functions.

Alimi also urged OYSAA to develop a comprehensive database of registered advertising practitioners and outdoor advertising assets in the state, saying accurate data would improve monitoring and enforcement.

He said APAOC was working toward developing a reliable database of practitioners in Oyo State while also preparing training and empowerment programmes for members.

“Our aim is to bring practitioners together within the same system so that we can have a reliable database that will enable us to extend the net of training to those who actually require it,” he said.

The APAOC chairman also called for regular training of advertising practitioners to keep pace with developments in digital advertising, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.