By Ibrahim Ramalan
In a bid to further position advertising as a profession and an agent of social change, members of Advertising Practitioners Association, Abuja Chapter (APAAC) has honoured President Muhammadu Buhari for the change agenda of his government, and four others for outstanding contributions to the growth of advertising profession in the country at its 2015 annual lecture, dinner and award night which took place in Abuja recently.
President Buhari was represented at the event by a delegate of the minister of Information and Culture/special guest of honour, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Mrs Victoria Agba-Attah, a deputy director in the Ministry of Information and Culture.
Other awardees include the registrar/chief executive officer (CEO) of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi, Engineer Dozie Mbanefo, former president of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and APCON council member, Mrs Bunmi Oke and Mr Ibrahim D. Garba in recognition of their outstanding performances in Advertising.
In his remark, the APCON Boss, who was awarded based on his support to the growth of APAAC, expressed happiness that the advertisers’ body is moving in the right direction.
He said: “I am happy to tell you that five years ago the Chapter is not as vibrant and the practitioners are not so buoyant. But we are now opening doors and bringing former council members and professionals who have excelled in their own right to come and talk to these young enterprises and advertisers.”
He however bemoaned how advertising remained entrenched in Lagos, saying it’s not going to augur well for this country.
“What we lack in Abuja is the core advertising practitioners who are into the full-fledged advertising services. And basically, clients are looking for deliverables and if we don’t have enough man-power who are truly professionals and the technicality, then that means we are not yet there,” he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Association Abuja Chapter, Sam Agbi, said that this year’s Lecture was not only to provide the practitioners the platform to signpost its contribution in re-engineering the process of the change agenda of the Federal Government, but also to give practitioners, investors and stakeholders the avenue to interact, share ideas and further create awareness on the ethics and trends of the Advertising profession.
