The Federal Government has notified Professional bodies and Councils that it would cease to fund them beginning from the 2024 budget in line with the decisions of the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS).
The move according to the government was in line with the recommendation in the Orosanye Committee and the PCS report.
In a memo dated June 26, 2023, signed by the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, funding would be stopped for at least 30 of the professional bodies and councils by January, 2024 whilst budgetary allocations would be stopped for other bodies by December 2026.
The memo reads “I wish to inform you that the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) at its 13th meeting approved the discontinuation of budgetary allocation to Professional Bodies/Councils effective January, 2024.”
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The purpose of this letter therefore is to inform you that, in compliance with PCS’s directive, this office will no longer make budgetary provisions to your institution with effect from the above stated date and you will be regarded as self-funded organisation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, you will be required, effective January, 2024 to be fully responsible for your personnel, overhead and capital expenditures.”
The budget office asked the affected bodies to begin to make adjustments early so they can continue to run their organisations seamlessly after the government might have withdrawn its financial support.
Professional bodies in Nigeria are largely for development in their fields, relying on government funding to conduct ethical reviews and propose and promote new professional standards. There are over 100 professional bodies in the country.
Among these professional bodies is the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, (ARCON) which is in charge of regulating advertising and marketing communications in the country and for which government is set to stop funding.
ARCON cooperates with sectorial associations in regulating the conduct of their members to ensure a socially responsible practice. By insisting on pre-exposure clearance of all advertisements, ARCON strives to check all forms of abuses such as misleading statements, spurious testimonials, visual and verbal exaggerations, misleading offers, suggestion or pictures offensive to public decency, among others.
What will become of the advertising practice in Nigeria once the government discontinues funding of ARCON?
The development has generated mixed reactions from professionals within the advertising and marketing communications.
While some individuals hailed the decision of the PSC, others expressed surprise at the revelation that professional bodies were being surreptitiously funded by the government and questioned the rationale.
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) formerly known as Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) was established by the Advertising Practitioners Act No. 55 of 1988, as amended by Act No. 93 of 1992 and Act No. 116 of 1993 (now Advertising Practitioners Registration Act Cap A7 of 2004).
The adoption of a broad national mass communication policy by the National Council of Ministers in January 1988 was a milestone in the establishment of APCON.
The various discussions that followed the adoption of the national mass communication policy articulated the relevance and the leadership role of advertising to the nation’s social, political and economic development as well as the need for official recognition and regulation of the practice.
APCON was subsequently established by the Act number 55 of 1988 as a logical outcome of these discussions. The Act accorded deserved state legislative recognition of advertising as a profession in Nigeria and vested APCON with powers to control and regulate practice of advertising in the country, in all its aspects and ramifications.
APCON maintains a strong focus on its vision of promoting responsible and ethical advertising practice, acts as the conscience of society in matters of commercial communications and as a watchdog for consumers. It also manages the need and interests of stakeholders in Nigeria’s advertising industry.
However, in 2022 the advertising industry got a new law which repeals the Advertising Practitioners Act, Cap A 7 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enacts the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act, 2022 to establish a Council for advertising, advertisements and marketing communications as the apex regulatory authority for the Nigerian advertising industry, make provisions for the regulation and control of advertising, ensure the protection of the general public and consumers, promote local contents and entrench the best international practices.
The provisions of this Act applies to Individual, organization, body corporate or agency of the Federal Government, State, or Local Government which engages in, regulates, sponsors or takes benefit of advertising services, advertisements, and marketing communications services and “any person who sponsors or takes benefit of an advertising, advertisement, or marketing communications services within the provisions of this Act.”
The statutory functions, rights, interests, obligations, liabilities and properties held by the Council of the Advertising Practitioners (Registration etc) Act, existing before the commencement of this Act under any contract, instrument, in law or in equity, shall by virtue of this Act be deemed to have been assigned to and vested in the Council established under this Act to the extent that they are not inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act.
Functions of the Council as contained in the ARCON Act 2022, are to regulate and control advertising, advertisements, and marketing communications in all its aspects and ramifications directed at or exposed to the Nigerian market, ensure the effective administration, supervision, regulation, and control of advertising, advertisement, and marketing communication in Nigeria in all its aspects and ramifications.
Other functions include to carry out investigation or inquiry considered necessary or desirable in connection with any matter relating to advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications in Nigeria; regulate and control creative ratings, advertising, advertisement and marketing communications awards, marketing communications research, audit bureau of circulations, audience measurement, consumer insight research, and other related researches directed to and targeted at the Nigerian market and most especially preservation of Nigerian local content and use of indigenous skills as an important element in advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications services in Nigeria and directed at the Nigerian market.
It is also to formulate and implement regulations and guidelines on advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications industry terms of engagement, credit policy and disengagement protocol, and empowered Council to the following:
- Securing in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the establishment and maintenance of separate registers for individual and body corporate entitled to practice in any form of advertising, advertisement and marketing communications including creative agencies.
- Formulate policies, regulate, approve and register advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications business combinations, mergers, acquisitions, subsidiary investment, affiliation, and other investments by organizations licensed under this Act, among others.
Under this law, the Council has the power to prosecute any person or organization that violates or infringes any provision of this Act, code of advertising, proclamations, and any other enactment relating to advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications.
Upon violation of any provision of this Act, Council has powers to seal advertising department, marketing department, or commercial departments of organizations and agencies upon obtaining a court order.
- Compel public or private organizations or any person who sponsors or takes benefit of an advertisement to pull down or remove any advertisement or marketing communication exposed and directed at the Nigerian market that violates any provision of this Act.
- Stop the exposure or cause the removal of any advertising, advertisement, and marketing communication exposed or directed at the Nigerian market that violates any provision of this Act and do such other things as it considers necessary for the effective performance of its functions under this Act.
Section 31 of the law states: A person not being registered in accordance with this Act, shall not be entitled to hold any appointment in the public service of the Federation or of a State or in any public or private establishment, body, or institution if the holding of a such appointment involves the performance by him in Nigeria of any act pertaining to the profession for gain.
Section 32 of the law also states that: “An individual or organization, not being registered in any register established under this Act who has failed, refused or neglected to comply with the conditions and requirements for advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications as stipulated under this Act, or who uses any name, title, description or symbol calculated to lead any person to infer that he is engaged in advertising, advertisements or marketing communications commits an offence and is liable on conviction.” It further states:
“Any person including sponsor or beneficiary of an advertisement, body corporate, organization or agency which creates or places for publication or exposure of an advertisement in any medium directed at or targeting the Nigerian market without the prior approval of Standards Panel commits an offence and is liable to such fine as stated in the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice as stated in Section 4.
On the establishment of a governing council, according to the law: The Governing Council shall consist of Chairman, who shall be a distinguished Fellow of the profession to be appointed by the President while the Director General of the Council shall be the Vice Chairman and one representative not below the rank of a director from the supervisory Ministry.
Other members include one representative each of National Universities Commission (NUC) ; National Board for Technical Education (NBTE); Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON); Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN); Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN); Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN); Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN); and Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN).
“Also five representatives of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and the Head of Legal Unit of the Council who shall always act as the Secretary of the Governing Council.”
In his reaction, OAAN President, Chief Emmanuel Ajufo said the development is not strange because he has always believed in self-funding and just funding but autonomy to be able to manage professionals.
“I expect that. Yes, it will mean to us paying more, making us do more things but ultimately, we will be better for it. We will then manage ourselves properly and as expected without interference from government. I think it will take us to higher heights.
President of EXMAN, Tolulope Medebem, said with the new development, sectorial bodies will have to put more into the needs of ARCON adding: “if they are not getting fund from government, it has to come from somewhere.
“I imagine that may be some of their courses that were free might have to be paid for, some of their courses that were cheaper might be more expensive. The way the country is going, I think it’s more like members doing more to support ARCON at our sectorial levels.”
ADVAN President, Mr. Osamede Uwunbabwen was of the opinion that the government’s directive came from the way they see ARCON.
According to him; “In terms of funding it is going to be how the government sees it, is ARCON a revenue generating agency? Or an agency that provides social benefits? “If you want communication not to cause problem like what happened with the Ad: “All Eyes On The Judiciary” stuff’, it can cause a lot of problems.
“What we need to ask is that, is advertising from the government side a revenue or a social need? I think it’s of a social need and less of a revenue. The government should look at it this way. Maybe they have a funding mechanism but not pulling out totally, I don’t support it, because I think advertising has a lot of ways of helping a country.
“If we have great image, great people that are running advertising, one day we will have a great country and people will believe in Nigeria and people will come from outside to help Nigeria. The way government views advertising matters,” he explained.
Chief Executive Officer of Ladybird Advertising and Past President of AAAN, Mrs. Bunmi Oke said concerning the government directive, it is something we need to wait and cross that bridge when its time.
“We all know we need to contribute to the body that regulates us.
“I will say for regulatory councils, it will not be affected by government not funding it. The only thing that will be affected is the income to those regulatory bodies. I am sure they will find a way of surviving because they provide a service. They will find a way of providing professional services and do it differently and that is where we come in. We will just find a way of getting new streams of income.
“Necessity is the mother of inventions. When you have a case like this, you start to re-invent yourself. Sometimes opportunities come from challenges and more often than not you find out that challenges make champions. I think it is time to revamp a lot of our moribund agencies or even opportunities.
“I think it will be even better and more interesting for Nigerians, they are very creative, it will unleash creativity on a lot of people,” she said.
A member of MIPAN, Mr. Jude Odia said the new directive will call for creativity from the sectorial bodies because it means revenue generation will now be tied to what they can do on their own.
“This enhances the ethics of the industry, encouraging interdependency and collaborations to improve the fortunes of our industry because if the fortunes of the industry grow, then the fees, payments and commissions that will go to all these government bodies will increase.
“I think it’s all about understanding that we need to grow the industry, from all sides of the ecosystem. Grow the sector and everybody will be better for it. It is a call for everybody to sit up and drive the business.”
Group Managing Director, Monumental Concept and Display, (MC&D), Mr. Wole Odubanjo, said the issue should be looked at from two perspectives: one is that there might not be heralding availability of funds that used to come from government but that shouldn’t be a big deal considering that we are a professional sector that are made up of vibrant sub units.
“It will also provide us an opportunity to be, as much as possible, independent from government which should give us that platform to be able to look at issues concerning us and to be able to dedicate ourselves to ensuring that ARCON is properly placed to move the industry forward.
“I think there is the need for sacrifice, we should be able to move the industry forward. We should be able to make that in terms of providing funding for ARCON in order to be able to meet its role as far as the advertising industry is concerned.
“We shouldn’t see it as a negative development, we should see it as a positive signal to take our destiny in our hands including financial issues.”
Coordinator, Women in Out-Of- Home Advertising In Nigeria (WOHAN) and Chief Executive Officer of Benevolence Mrs. Deola Odesanya, said if government continues with their decision she believes that ARCON will scale the hurdle. “They will become pacesetters for other professional regulatory councils to look forward to. ARCON needs to put on their thinking cap and garner the resources that they have and the sky will just be the beginning.
“We’ve actually been funding, we’ve been paying our corporate license and other dues. Well, it might increase but like I said we have people who think outside of the box. We have people that can sit down and look at the landscape and say, what can we do differently to bring in money without putting unnecessary financial burden on members? I know they will come up with something. You know we are a creative industry. So creativity will come out of this, I am so sure.”
The question now is what will the liability of ARCON be if it’s going be independent and the implication of this on the composition of the Governing Council as well as all aspects and ramifications of its operations going forward?
BV.
