The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has explained that the recent signing of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) into law by President Muhammadu Buhari was informed by the resolve to strengthen the nation’s integrated marketing communications space.
Last week, President Buhari appended his signature to the ARCON Bill (now an Act), which repeals the Advertising Practitioners (Registration, etc.) Act, Cap. A7, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enacts the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) Act, 2022. ARCON is now recognised as the apex authority for the Nigerian advertising industry.
Mohammed said the Federal Government believes that, if properly carried out, the reforms would enable the regulatory body sanitise the advertising regulatory environment, encourage inclusive growth, attract investments to the sector, and enhance the operating environment for practitioners.
In his paper titled, ‘The New World Order: Digital Transformation in Communication”, the Minister described advertising and brand marketing as prime examples of sectors where consumer data is critical; hence the need for advertising practitioners to leverage technology for direct engagement with the audiences.
He noted that, in a rapidly changing world in terms of dynamics of opportunity and risks, talking directly with consumers in a data-enabled environment would take brands and entrepreneurs closer to their consumers more than ever before.
Mohammed therefore called on advertising practitioners to position themselves in a way that they would be able to avail themselves of the entrepreneurial opportunities awaiting them between technology and advertising.
By the new law, it is now APCON’s statutory responsibility to make provisions for the regulation and control of advertising in all its ramifications and create the Advertising Offences Tribunal among other powers.
APCON Registrar Dr Lekan Fadolapo had hinted that the ARCON bill was before the National Assembly and that the name change was imperative to the realisation of his vision to reposition the advertising industry in Nigeria for growth.
