Minister tasks APCON on effective monitoring of adverts

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday urged the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to ensure proper monitoring of advertisements across the different media.

Lai Mohammed

The minister made the plea during his visit to the agency as well as other parastatals under the Information and Culture ministry in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the other agencies visited by the minister were the National Institute of Cultural Orientation (NICO), NAN, the National Troupe and the National Theatre.

Mohammed said there was the need to effectively vet advertising messages to ensure they did not erode societal moral values or undermine the unity and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians.

“ Some people might ask “What is important about vetting advertisements?

“Monitoring is so important so as to maintain some decorum and ensure that advertisements did not undermine the unity of this country.

“Up to the last elections, we all saw a lot of advertisements that were capable of tearing this country apart because of their insensitive contents.

“There were advertisements that insulted ethno-religious sensitivities and there were those that were clearly offensive to people.

“So, APCON should been seen doing its duty to ensure effective monitoring of adverts, preservation of our values as well as the unity of our people.

“This is because if we turn a blind eye to offensive jingles and other advertising messages, we might end up doing something bad to the country, “he said.

The minister, however, said government was aware of APCON`s lack of capacity to monitor no fewer than 6,000 media channels daily, adding that it would help the agency in that direction.

Mohammed described APCON as a very important agency in the ministry and said government would always work with the agency to ensure it fulfilled its mandate as the advertising industry regulator.

He said that government would assist in the training of staff and intervene in the current accommodation challenges facing the agency (APCON).

Earlier, the Director-General of APCON, Alhaji Garba Kankarfi, told the minister that the agency would need about N350 million to monitor media channels in Lagos and Ibadan alone through digital technology.

Kankarfi had said most of the monitoring done by the agency were manual, adding that the acquisition of the digital technology would enhance the agency`s operations.

The director-general also urged government not to move the headquarters of the agency out of Lagos and pointed out that APCON derived 70 per cent of its revenue from the state.

“We are having issues with accommodation and the issue that we should relocate away from here is still there.

“Please sir, 70 per cent of our revenue is here and we appeal that we should be retained in the state where our market is, “ he said.

At NAN, the minister was led round the offices by the Managing Director, Mr Ima Niboro, assisted by the Head of Lagos Office, Mr Joe Bankole and other top management staff.

The Minister also visited the NAN Media Centre where he assessed the facilities at the centre.

Mohammed was briefly entertained by members of the National Troupe before he held a stakeholders` meeting with top officials of agencies around the National Theatre. (NAN)