Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) has formally announced its decision to withdraw from its membership in the Heads of Advertising Sectorial Group (HASG). This decision follows extensive deliberation and careful consideration by the ADVAN Executive Council and association members.
In a letter addressed to the HASG Chairman, Dr. Olufemi Adelusi, ADVAN expressed that while their participation in HASG has provided valuable opportunities for collaboration with industry professionals, recent activities of HASG have deviated from its stated objectives.
These objectives include promoting investment in advertising services, fostering trust in the advertising sector, nurturing closer relationships among advertising sectorial associations, and engaging in discussions on regulations affecting advertising practices in Nigeria.
ADVAN highlighted that despite repeated engagement, their contributions and submissions have not been adequately acknowledged or acted upon by HASG. The association emphasized the need for transparency, accountability, and inclusion in successful joint committees, which they found lacking in recent HASG activities.
“Regrettably, we have experienced a departure from these objectives in the recent activities of HASG,” the letter stated. “In light of the apparent selective inclusion and predetermined outcomes, we find it necessary not only to withdraw from HASG but also from other ad-hoc industry committees where similar biases exist until such a time we are convinced that these biases have been fully and transparently resolved.”
Providing further reasons for its decision, it added, “A case in point is the recent launch of the Audience Measurement system by ARCON and the Ministry of Information. Honestly, we have no clue on any of the modalities of the system. We were invited to an initial briefing by the late Tolu Ogunkoya who promised full transparency in the process, since then the committee’s online group has been silent, only for us to be invited to its launch with a letter stating that we have been part of the working committee.
“We had encountered a similar situation with the AISOP committee where all our proposals were ignored. We cannot in good faith continue to be part of committees that are clearly biased in their agenda, as we have a mandate to advocate value based, inclusive policies for the industry
However, ADVAN reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to fulfilling its obligations to participate in all statutory committees and its dedication to fostering a thriving marketing industry. The association remains open to transparent conversations and programs aligned with these objectives. “We will reconsider our decision once we are certain that principles of accountability, trust and transparency in all dealings will be upheld,”
