The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) have called on the National Assembly not to pass the Chartered Out-of-Home Media Practitioners (COoHMP) Bill; describing the bill as having no economic value, and a duplication of ARCON functions.
The AAAN advised that, rather than supporting the bill, the nation’s lawmakers should pass laws that could strengthen the existing framework to address perceived gaps in either Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) or Out-of-Home.
The association’s president, Mr. Lanre Adisa, at a public hearing on the Bill, argued that the advertising sector in Nigeria already operates under a comprehensive regulatory framework through ARCON, which provides oversight function, ensures ethical standards, and harmonises practices across the industry.
He therefore stated that rather than duplicate the functions of ARCON and other sectoral bodies in the marketing communication industry, the National Assembly should pass laws strengthening the existing framework to address any perceived gaps.
While empathising with the interest of outdoor professionals who are concerned about protecting their investments, Adisa stated that it would be strange and absurd to set up a chartered entity that would have absolute control over the territories where their boards are sighted, since such power statutorily resides with the local governments as guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution.
He dismissed the claim held by the promoters of the Bill that the process of erecting outdoor structures is not being regulated, stating that the responsibility falls within the purview of state outdoor agencies like the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) in Lagos, and its equivalents in other parts of the country.
Adisa stated further that creating another regulator at this time for outdoor agencies is counterproductive and unnecessary, as this would mean that state agencies would no longer be relevant or, at best, cease to exist.
He also described the proposed chartered entity as one that would place unnecessary burdens on outdoor practitioners and others considering it a business or profession.
He urged the National Assembly to scrap the Bill as it could lead to duplicating functions, causing administrative inefficiencies, and fragmenting an industry that thrives on integration and cohesion.
“This fragmentation could disrupt the progress we’ve made in building a unified and globally competitive advertising ecosystem under the current regulatory protocol being provided by ARCON,” he said.
In its own reaction to the proposed Bill, ARCON, in a statement issued by its Director General, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, believed that the Bill’s promoters’ desire to regulate and protect the investment of OoH assets, environment, aesthetics structure and quality of infrastructure, would conflict with the Nigerian Constitution, which rested the power to control outdoor advertising and hoarding on the Local Government, as seen in 1(k) of the Fourth Schedule of the nation’s constitution.
Besides, the apex regulatory body sees the Bill as negating the federal government’s position of reducing cost of governance, merger and dissolution of agencies with similar or overlapping functions.
“If the Bill is passed into law , it will create another federal government agency that will co-exist with ARCON for the certification and determination of standard of knowledge and skills needed to practise Out-of-Home advertising.
“The new body will not bring economic or developmental value to the industry, rather it create another bottleneck, bureaucracy and faction in the industry. The practice and business of advertising is currently being regulated by ARCON. The structure and quality of out-of-home advertising are currently being regulated by the Local and State governments, respectively. The body will therefore create chaos, cause confusion, waste of government resources and multiple gatekeepers for the out-of-home sector of the advertising industry,” ARCON added.
While appealing to the Chairman of the Joint Committee of the Senate to decline the Bill, based on the reasons enumerated above, ARCON believed a passage of the Bill would not only be counterproductive, but could also ‘disenfranchise’ the nation’s advertising industry, with negative attendant effects to federal government’s policies, and the nation’s economy.
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