Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

FG willing to work with advertising industry, says minister

By Florence Utor
07 April 2023   |   3:44 am
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has expressed the Federal Government’s willingness, through his ministry, to work with stakeholders in advancing the cause of the advertising industry.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has expressed the Federal Government’s willingness, through his ministry, to work with stakeholders in advancing the cause of the advertising industry.

Mohammed stated this while declaring open a one-day Advertising Industry Colloquium (AIC), in Lagos, recently. Represented by the ministry’s Director of Public Communications, Sunday Baba, the minister was particularly impressed by the proactivity of the Director-General of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, and the AIC committee chaired by Prof. Olatunji Rotimi, as well as industry stakeholders that birthed the initiative.

“I will be delighted to receive innovative ideas, suggestions and constructive criticisms based on experience and valuable views. I encourage you to continuously initiate activities, which will potentially propel the advertising and marketing communications industry, to achieve better positioning and improved value delivery profitable to advertising practitioners, as well as the nation in general.”

“It is, undeniably, a noble initiative, which deserves every support and encouragement it needs to be sustained,” Mohammed said.

The minister said the convergence of the academia and core business practitioners would profitably motivate an industry like the advertising and marketing communications.

He added that the convergence would also motivate the young generation, whose talents and skills, were at the early stage mixing what were taught in preparation for practice and the actual practice.

Noting that the challenges could be audacious and the potential enormous, the minister said that advertising had come a very long way in contributing and advancing the growth of Nigeria’s economy massively.

According to Mohammed, the role of advertising in academics and in the day-to-day business activities cannot be neglected or underestimated by any economy that genuinely seeks to develop and sustain the development of its economy.

His words: “I am delighted to see the progress the council has been making to ensure that the advertising and marketing industry in Nigeria is ethically and professionally practised as it should be.

“The industry has recently witnessed series of reforms and other developmental strides to keep it consistent with the dynamic demands of the sector.”

The minister said the introduction of the industry Standard of Practice was one of the high points of the council. He said the implementation of the policy was important to ensure that 75 per cent cumulative local content was integrated on all advertisements, advertising and marketing communication materials with effect from January 1, 2023, would create a minimum of 500,000 jobs yearly.

Students were invited from tertiary institutions and some pitched brief on road safety rules in which University of Ilorin won the first prize of N1 million, followed by Lagos State University with N750,000 and Babcock N500,000.

In this article

0 Comments