Ini Billie, Uyo
The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has inducted 37 new associate members into its fold.
Among those induced during the weekend in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State are the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Ini Ememobong, and two management staff in the Ministry, Mrs Blessing Urua and Mrs Grace Akpan, Director, Information, and Public Relations respectively.
Speaking after a 3-Day Executive Membership Registration and Induction ceremony of the practitioners, the Chief Executive Officer/Registrar of APCON, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo urged the inductees to be good ambassadors of the advertising profession.
Fadolapo said with their certification, the members are free to explore opportunities in the industry without the fear of harassment.
“With your certification, you now have the legal rights to establish a full-fledged advertising agency, and explore opportunities in outdoor advertising and other independent media space,” he said.
While speaking, the Director of Registration, Joe-Eugene Onuorah, said the programme was an alternative procedure for admitting people into the profession who did not have the prescribed academic qualification.
Onuorah stated that Uyo was selected to host the programme in the South-South and the South-East region, with the hope that it would encourage interested persons in the region to become certified.
He said: “The registration is based on having acquired the basic experience over many years of practice. The procedure required that they are subjected to two days of intensive training to acquaint them with basic principles that they need to understand to be able to practice more professionally and responsibly, and that is what we have done since last Wednesday.”
One of the inductees, Mr Idris Madabaje, a senior staff of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information and Strategy said with the certification, he was armed with the requirements to explore more opportunities in the sector and in the field of mass communication.