The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has disclosed it is working in collaboration with the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) with a view to finding lasting solutions to the protracted debt issues rocking the media and advertising industry in Nigeria.
Similarly, the Council said it would undertake review of provisions of Nigeria’s local content laws and see to it that advertising agency operations conform effectively with local content requirements as well as prescriptions of APCON establishing acts. Registrar of the Council, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo who made the disclosures recently said the two regulatory institutions have agreed to work together to address the debt problems pointing out that, going forth, it would be zero tolerance to debts for business across the industry.
Intersectoral indebtedness between business players across media and advertising industry in Nigeria is said to run into several billions of naira, a situation which hampers smooth business operations of the industry.
Commenting on steps taken by the Council to ensure observance of local content requirements in the advertising industry, Fadolapo stated that the new administration of the Council would review the local content laws of the country and see to it that the APCON provisions that for a foreign company to operate in Nigeria, Nigerians must own 75 per cent of the shares is strictly implemented.
He said “We are going to look at that local content law and see ways we could get empowerment from it. We are going to look at how we can collaborate. We are going to review the local content law of Nigeria and see where they can situate our own proposal there in” and added“ Don’t forget that currently, the APCON law states that any company that is to operate here, Nigerians must own 75 per cent of the shares”
The Council boss who noted that the debt controversy in the industry centered around reconciliation of accounts between contending business players lamented that efforts in the past to achieve proper accounts reconciliation had yielded little or no results.
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According to him, a special committee on media debt Issue was set up several years ago with its membership drawn from major industry sectorial associations namely ,Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria ( AAAN), Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria ( BON ), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN ) and Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN).
He explained that when the media houses were asked to bring up their account statements for necessary reconciliation, majority of them failed to do so for reasons based on their existing business relationships with agencies as well as other interest parties.
“We are the two regulatory bodies involved in this. We have both agreed that going forward, we would have zero tolerance for industry debts. That is where our standard of practice will come. We will also define business relationship and what is to be classified as debt”NBC issues licenses to the media house, while APCON issues license to the advertising agencies.
So as their regulators, we have resolved to come in and ensure we bridge this gap and ensure we resolve this issue and arrive at a permanent solution” he stated and concluded that“If any organisation owes a media house, and it is confirmed that they are not paying or have been paid but are not remitting, we would take a decision. NBC and APCON will make a pronouncement”
