…As tribunal sets to regulate, address violations
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government, yesterday, inaugurated the Advertising Offences Tribunal in Abuja.
Speaking during the inauguration, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government’s interest in boosting the role and mandate of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) for effective regulation of advertising, advertisement and marketing communication in Nigeria is built on the awareness that the Nigeria Advertising Industry holds enormous potentials to influence the nation’s economic growth.
The minister recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, assented to a bill in July 2022 and gave life to the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act No. 23 of 2022, saying that the Act took into cognizance, the inadequacies of its predecessor, as well as the need to protect consumers from illegal, untruthful, dishonest, indecent, and distasteful advertising, advertisements, and marketing communication directed at, or targeting the Nigerian market.
Mohammed stated that the Council was vested with the power to regulate and control advertising in Nigeria in all aspects and ramifications.
Mohammed added that to ensure the success of the Council in carrying out her statutory responsibilities, the Advertising Offences Tribunal was established by the Act.
He noted that the tribunal is empowered to entertain all matters of violations of the provisions of the Act, the Code of Advertising Practice, Standard of Practice, and other subsidiary legislations made pursuant to the Act.
Mohammed said: “Realizing that in order to exercise the jurisdiction vested by the Act on the Tribunal, it must have persons with relevant knowledge and background in the Nigeria judicial system as well as the Nigeria advertising space, we have appointed the outstanding persons we are about to inaugurate today.
“The chairperson of the Tribunal, Hon Justice Cecilia Olatoregun, is an eminent jurist who has served in various capacities in the bar and the bench. The other members of the Tribunal, Mr. Charles Odenigbo, Mr. Moroof Aileru, Mrs. Julia Oku Jack, Alhaji Bello Kankarofi and Mr. Idorenyen Enang, are all eminently qualified to hold the offices which they have been appointed into.
“I am very confident that having come from different relevant backgrounds, Your Lordship and the members of the Tribunal will entertain every matter before you for adjudication justly, fairly, and without bias.”
Mohammed also said government will continue to support the advancement of the advertising industry in Nigeria and will ensure that being a nation with remarkable characteristics, as well as diverse ethnic, cultural and religious background, advertising, advertisement and marketing communications will be carried out with a level of decency as well as respect for cultural values and constitutional tenets.