The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria has called for an amendment of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria Act, which it deems inadequate as a regulatory legislation for the numerous strands of the practice.

According to a statement, AAAN made the call on Wednesday in Abuja during the public hearing of a bill to amend the APCON Act organised by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.

It argued that the bill, sponsored by the member representing Afijio/Atiba/Oyo East/Oyo West Federal Constituency, Akeem Adeyemi, sought to wreak major changes in the extant APCON legislation.

In its submission titled ‘Review of the Bill for an Act to Amend the Advertising Practitioners (Registration Etc) Act CAP A7, LFN 2004, the association called for the establishment of the Advertising Regulatory and Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria to replace APCON.

AAAN’s Vice President, Mr Jenkins Alumona, stated that the association, led by its President, Steve Babaeko, was convinced that the new act would force out quacks from the advertising indust

“The advertising industry and the Nigerian business environment will be the greatest beneficiary of this change. We need to end the use of the advertising space to sell lies in the guise of advertising.

“Under the current law, non-practitioners can get away with placing unvetted and unprofessional advertising messages in the media. This must stop and the new law will ensure this,” Alumona said.