Copyright tribuneonlineng
…Urges ARCON to rethink criteria for fellowship title THE Chairman of Troyka Group, Dr. Biodun Shobanjo has described the nation’s advertising as big business, with a value likely to hit the N1 trillion mark, in the next four years. Making this prediction at the Fellowship Induction, held by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), in Lagos, recently, the doyen of advertising therefore stressed the need for stakeholders in the business to up their games, to enable them add value to the evolving sector. While congratulating the 45 new inductees, Shobanjo stressed the need for ARCON to rethink some of the criteria for its fellowship, so as to further enhance the value of the title. He charged the apex regulatory body in advertising, to borrow a leaf from the nation’s judicial council, and other professional councils, whose members are required to fulfil other requirements, beyond the mandatory 15 years of practice, before being admitted into the top echelon of the professions. “In another 4 years, this business will be worth N1 Trillion. It’s a serious business. You’ve gotten the fellowship now, but what does it mean? When a lawyer is called a SAN there are benefits that go with them. The fact that you’ve been in practice for X number of years does not grant you automatic SANship. There is still a process that you have to go through. You will be interviewed. And they will look at your conduct, your character, and the number of cases you have you done at the Supreme court, among others. “I think we have evolved, and we are still evolving. We need to take a look at the rules again. When I was inducted, there were only 10 of us, but the number that came out today was a lot. How many lawyers are there in Nigeria, how many of them get SANship every year? We need to ask ourselves this question,” he stated. The advertising guru, who recently became the first West African to be inducted into Lorries Hall of Fame, therefore, urged ARCON to meet with other Sectoral groups to deliberate on the benefits and values to be attached to the Council’s fellowship Awards. The Troyka Group boss also charged practitioners in the sector to imbibe sound ethical values and act on them, at individual levels to further to elevate the practice. While congratulating the new inductees on their latest achievement, the Chairman of the Fellowship Selection Committee, Emma Ajufo, stated that those being sworn were seen by the committee to have exhibited a high standard of excellence. In his goodwill message, Chairman, National Advertising Conference, Tunji Adeyinka emphasised the need for the new inductees to observe some of the ‘rituals’of the practice, which are the conferences and thought leadership events held within the practice. “Few weeks ago, all accountants met in Abuja, and they were about 10,000. About 7,200 were there physically. In the next 12 days, we will be in Abuja for NAC, and as a fellow, I will encourage you to be there,” he stated. Congratulating the new inductees, the Director General of ARCON, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, explained that fellowship of Advertising profession, the highest status of membership of the profession is usually conferred on practitioners who have been registered as (full) members of the profession, and must have met other criteria, as well as significantly impacted the development of the profession. He added with conferment, 45 new fellows would be added to the existing 170, some of whom have retired from the profession or passed on.
