Economic

 

 

Urges FG to re-constitute APCON Governing Council

The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has proposed that the Federal Government should embark on a nationwide reorientation campaign, designed, specifically to build civic pride and get Nigerians to believe in the nation and her assets, again. This, it believes, will help the country to effectively navigate the current socio-economic quagmire.
Delivering this message on behalf of the Association during a courtesy visit to the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), the President, Mr. Kayode Oluwasona, noted that the current state of apathy, despondency and disconnect between the citizenry and the government, required that this step be taken immediately.
Stating that the gesture was in furtherance of the Association’s social responsibility to the Nigerian nation-state, the communication expert stressed that: “Towards achieving this, we at AAAN gladly offer to develop and produce “Nigeria Pride” and “Unity” campaigns at no cost to government. If accepted, government would only be required to fund the exposure of the campaign in the mass media or use its media vehicles run the campaign.
“We desire to see Nigerians begin to appreciate and support Made-in-Nigeria products and brands.”
Lamenting the fact that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the regulatory agency for the industry, has operated without a constituted Governing Council for almost one year, following the dissolution of the last board, the AAAN President urged the FG to immediately reconstitute a fresh council.
“Your Excellency, when APCON doesn’t have a council, our industry gets over exposed, and the achievement of decent, responsible and progressive advertising, which the council is set up to enforce, suffers.  The Council that was dissolved was in existence for only four months, as against a standard tenure of three years stipulated in the APCON laws.
“Prior to the constitution of this same Council, APCON had been without a council for almost two years, and that was the period during which the regrettably unwholesome political campaigns of last year festered.
“Your Excellency, we humbly request for the immediate re-constitution of the APCON Council, so that even the recently gazzetted reform of our industry can effectively be implemented, and we can have a hope of our industry operating normally again,” Mr. Oluwasona said.
Similarly, AAAN also recommended that government urgently reviews the current communication architecture to allow for professionalism and better standards across levels and departments of government.
Oluwasona unambiguously stated that: “The objective here is to upgrade the quality of the work of communication handlers inside Government and also that of their external partners.
“It is pertinent to note that while our advertising laws and regulations allow for only APCON (Advertising Practitioner’s Council of Nigeria) licensed organisations to practice advertising in the country, even Government patronises unlicensed agencies, which operate under different fictitious titles.
“While urging government to uphold the APCON laws and regulations in the execution of her communication projects, we suggest that government works with only APCON-licensed marketing communication experts in the Organized Private Sector to ensure that Government communications are standardised and made more effective.”
The communications experts also used the opportunity to invite the vice president as very Special Guest of Honour, to its forthcoming annual Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF), awards.
AAAN, founded on April 1, 1973 is a body of over seventy five professional companies licensed by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to legitimately carry on the business of advertising in Nigeria.
For over seventy five years, its members have been impacting the Nigerian economy by empowering the general public with quality awareness about brands, products, ideas, people, places etc., which translates into smart choices and enhanced market expansion.
In the past, AAAN had made modest contributions to national orientation and continue to do so. One of such campaigns is the ‘Good People, Great Nation’ corporate Nigeria campaign during the tenure of the late Mrs. Dora Akunyili, as Minister of Information.
Others included AAAN’s participation in public advocacy and social responsibility campaigns developed and run campaigns to create massive awareness for Ebola, cancer, etc.
In the pipeline are campaigns on Nigerian unity; anti-terrorism; anti-corruption; patronising ‘made-in-Nigeria’ goods, etc.

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Interswitch commends First bank for sustaining 100m monthly transactions Milestone

…  FBN becomes first financial institution in Nigeria to achieve and sustain this feat

Interswitch Group, Africa’s leading digital payments and commerce company recently, formally recognized First Bank Nigeria Ltd. as the first financial institution in the country to achieve sustained transaction volumes of 100 million transactions, first in December 2015 and again in May 2016.
The record transaction volumes represent the total transactions processed by First Bank’s Front End Processor running on the Interswitch transaction-switching platform, which seamlessly links all financial institutions in Nigeria to facilitate better and quicker transactions across all platforms.
In December 2015, First bank was recognized as the first-ever financial institution in the country to achieve this feat. Being able to sustain this in May 2017 is a pointer toward the bank’s desire to promote the CBN cashless policy and boost economic growth via e-payments across Nigeria and the African continent.
In his remarks, Group Managing Director/CEO, Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe commented.
“It essentially reflects the strength and development of electronic transactions in Nigeria that a single banking partner can record 100 million transactions in a single month. When this figure is aggregated with that of our other partners, then you can begin to have an idea of the sheer size and demand for electronic financial services in Nigeria. Interswitch is excited by this sustained achievement by FirstBank and we look forward to partnering with the Bank to further consolidate the gains of digital transaction innovation. ”
Also speaking, the MD/CEO of FirstBank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, noted that the bank will continue to employ novel approaches in providing secure and convenient banking services to its customers and promised to drive innovation and extend its leadership of the financial sector services with specialized and technology-driven products and services. In his words,
“First Bank’s investment in e-business reflects our commitment to promoting financial inclusion which is widely regarded as a lever for sustainable economic growth and development as well as enhancing entrepreneurship. Our passion to serve and extend financial services to the unbanked has since inspired several innovations and we thank our esteemed customers for their continued patronage and trust in our services whilst dedicating the recognition to them”.
It is on record that FirstBank was one of the foundational shareholders of Interswitch, prior to the company’s acquisition by a tripartite consortium led by Helios Investment Partners, and including the IFC and Adlevo Capital. The milestone by First Bank is another marker of the scale of success recorded by Interswitch since its launch in 2002. It will be recalled that the company in 2014 was listed by Deloitte as the fastest growing tech company in Africa with a year-on-year growth rate of over 1500%.


Lagos NIPR holds stakeholders’ conference on foreign direct investment

Lagos NIPR, the flagship chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), recently unveiled plans to foster government, business dialogue at the third edition of its annual Stakeholders’ Conference with the theme: Communication, reputation & sustainable foreign direct investment in Nigeria, scheduled to hold at the Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos on Thursday, August 25, 2016.
The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, is expected to deliver the keynote address. Other eminent presenters include: The Speaker, House of Representaives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who is expected to speak on the paper, ‘Addressing legislative barriers to foreign direct investment in Nigeria’; and a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Charles Soludo, whpo  will also be speaking on ‘Achieving the right policy mix for generating foreign direct investment in Nigeria’.
The event will be chaired by Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings Limited. Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State is expected as the chief host.
According the Chairman, NIPR, Lagos chapter, Mr. Olusegun McMedal, the two-day conference will engage key stakeholders, including the government, head of foreign missions and major corporate organisations to discuss and share functional strategies that will help in promoting and protecting foreign direct investment in the country. It will also galvanise and aggregate collective voice to situate government policy thrust for proper diversification to boost investment in real sector.
An interesting activity added to this year’s conference is the prestigious gala and awards night tagged: Stakeholders’ Nite of Recognitions, at the Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday August 26, 2016.
Speaking on the conference, Chairman, Lagos NIPR, Olusegun McMedal, explained that Lagos NIPR is playing its role as communicator by providing the right platform for the articulation and aggregation of a collective voice to foster government-business dialogue on foreign direct investment in Nigeria.
According to him, “This conference is a viable platform to reach out to key stakeholders to discuss issues that affect the economic development of the country. The thrust of this edition is to foster government-business dialogue on foreign direct investment with a view to aggregate clear cut strategies to ensuring that investors enjoy good returns on their investment, which will go a long way in stimulating key macroeconomic development in the country”.
The keynote address of the first edition of the was delivered by the former Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Fashola under the chairmanship of the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. Prof Ralph Akinfeleye, Chairman, Centre of Excellence, Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, was the keynote speaker at the second edition with the theme: The Nigerian Consumer; Rights Duties and Obligation. The President, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, chaired the conference which engaged heads of key regulatory agencies that included Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Lagos State Ministry of Commerce & Industry and consumer interest groups in the country.
The Stakeholders Conference series is developed and marketed by Addefort Limited; a fast growing public relations and concepts development company in Lagos for Lagos NIPR.
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations is the umbrella body of professional Public Relations practitioners chartered to regulate as well as direct its development and the practice.