The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) has said marketers in the country who are to comply with the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria ACT, 2003 Act No. 25, which makes it illegal to practice marketing without being a registered member of the NIMN should do so by August-end or risk being dragged to court.

President of the Institute and chairman of Council, Tony Agenmonmen who made the pronouncement at the Investiture ceremony of his second term in office, said from September 1, 2019, those that are still in violation of the Act will start having their days in Court.

The NIMN was chartered by Act of Nigerian Parliament 25 of 2003, as the body with sole regulatory powers for the marketing profession in Nigeria.

Agenmonmen stressed that the current council of the NIMN is determined to enforce the Act, adding that abiding by the Act is not a matter of choice once you elect to practice Marketing in Nigeria.

He said the approach of the NIMN in the last two years was to avoid the use of force, in enforcing the Act except as a very last resort.

He said, “In line with this approach, we have in the last two years, doing all the needful to drive voluntary compliance: We wrote directly to the major marketing companies availing them copies of the ACT and the current register of members, we held consultations with NECA and ADVAN to further sensitise them on the need for their member companies’ marketing employees to voluntarily comply, we even offered special soft conditions to ADVAN members.

“Some practitioners have since then taken advantage and voluntarily complied. Unfortunately, we still have a significantly high number of marketing practitioners who have so far not complied. We cannot continue to wait for them indefinitely. ”

The NIMN president and chairman of the council also said the Institute take ethical behaviour by its members very seriously, saying  by end of November 2019, the NIMN shall publish the NIMN Code of Marketing Ethics (CoME)

“We indeed expect our professionals to be role models in their organisations and in the country in general. However, we shall not leave this to chance as the professional misconduct of one has the capacity to smear the reputation of the entire profession,” he said.

The NIMN president also pledged that the Institute is determined to offer mentorship to young marketers in the country so as to build their capacity and make them more professional in their conduct.

Also read: African firms should see future in Cloud Marketing, advanced Analytics, says Terragon

He said, “We have a unique challenge in the marketing profession in Nigeria today. At the top layer we have a collection of some of the brightest and the best marketing � professionals in the world. At a much lower level, we have dealt with knowledgeable and experienced marketing professionals. The gap is far too wide.

“We intend to structure the process of marketing internship, to enable our marketing students in the various tertiary institutions acquire hands-on marketing experience before they graduate from their various institutions.

“There will be a short term of 3 months and where the Institutions’ programmes allow can be up to 12 months. I am hereby directly appealing to the Marketing Directors of member organisations to please respond positively to our placement requests when the time comes, by already making this part of their structures.”

According to him, during his first term, the council made some significant strides in repositioning the Institute to an enviable one.

He said, “Our biggest task on assumption of leadership in November 2016 was to raise the profile and equity of the NIMN brand. As at that time, it was at an all-time low. Our immediate task, therefore, was to quickly stabilize the Institute and change the narrative by repositioning it and raising the equity profile. Within the last two and a half years there have been significant changes.”

He expressed confidence that the Institute in the next two years, will consolidate on the current foundation and move forward.

Vanguard