.Industry leaders, regulators pledge support, call for transparency
The atmosphere was electrifying and the excitements palpable. The recent investiture of Dr. Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi as the first female president of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), in Lagos, was, without doubt, seen as that much-needed opportunity for the institute to retrace its steps, warm itself into the hearts of stakeholders in the industry, and rekindle some waning and fading hope.
Though there is the ‘graveyard silence’ regarding how well the institute had fared in the past few years, with very few ready to vent their views on such a ‘sensitive’ issue, many industry watchers believe the answers to such questions are obvious.
“The last few years had been rough and tough for the marketing institute,” they had said.
Interestingly, this set of people is not talking from the blues. There are facts and empirical evidence to support their claim.
One of such, they argued, is the various reforms within the institute and the nation’s marketing space carried out by the then President, Tony Agenmonmen, but which seemed to have fizzled out with the administration.
For instance, the commitment of that administration to getting rid of charlatans in the practice, culminating in the docking of some top marketing executives for being in the practice without being a member of the institute, seemed to take the back seat at the expiration of that tenure.
Besides, the Marketing Tribunal, equally set up by the administration, with the aim of speedily tackling infractions in the practice, also took a flight, immediately the highly revered marketing practitioner took his leave from that exalted chair. Till date, it’s yet to be established the number of individuals or companies that the Tribunal has prosecuted despite the glaring infractions dotting the space.
Perhaps more glaring was the capacity-building efforts, witnessed during that period, too.
“It’s obvious the board that took over from that administration released its foot from the accelerator pedal,” a practitioner in the ecosystem stated.
The new NIMN boss is not unaware of the huge tasks ahead. For instance, one of such tasks she had to sort out immediately after her elections into the office was getting another befitting accommodation for the institute. She had met a quit notice served by the institute’s former landlords, on her table, at its Ikeja GRA office, early this year. No doubt a herculean task for a president resuming newly. But she was able to beat the deadline. A decent office was found at an equally prestigious area for the institute, within the metropolis.
Not a few believed Bolajoko was able to achieve this because she is not new to the institute’s operations.
“I’ve been part of the institute’s activities in the past few years, serving in different capacities, though my ambition had never been to preside over its affairs,” the new NIMN boss had confessed at her investiture.
Many are of the opinion that the new NIMN president has the capacity to deliver the goods, as she keeps a date with history.
For instance, besides being the first female president of the institute, Bolajoko would also be getting support services from a secretariat, led by another woman, Thelma Okoh, the institute’s Registrar, who had proved her mettles in other professional bodies before taking up this new role at the institute.
“It definitely provides the opportunity for the feminine gender to prove to the world the stuff they are made of,” a practitioner in the space had said.
But, the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr. Ike Neliaku, would want the industry to see the new NIMN leadership from the perspective of the value they would be bringing to the institute.
“We should see Bolajoko as being elected into that office because she merited it, and not because she is a woman. She’s there because she has many things to offer,” Neliaku stated at the Investiture event.
Congratulating the new NIMN president for winning the trust and confidence of stakeholders in the nation’s entire marketing clan, businesswoman, author and first female chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Ibukun Awosika, stressed the need for her to be transparent and maintain her integrity, while discharging her duties in the new office.
She argued that once she is able to establish a personal brand that thrives on integrity and transparency, this would go a long way in impacting the NIMN brand positively.
Also congratulating Bolajoko on the new feat, the Director General Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Dr. Lekan Fadolapo assured the new president of the agency’s support, especially in the area of capacity building.
He added that collaboration between these two critical stakeholders in the industry had become imperative so as to assist the agency in its reforms aimed at moving the industry forward.
Stakeholders would however find respite in the NIMN boss assurance of her administration’s readiness to up the ante in its commitment to delivering a marketing institute they would be proud of.
“We are at a point where we are ready to make our voice louder. Marketing will be built on code of conduct and ethics, where everyone will be made accountable,” she reassured.
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Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
