By Princewill Ekwujuru

LAGOS— The Federal Government, yesterday, tasked advertising practitioners in Nigeria to be more involved in its social re-engineering and economic development programmes.

Speaking during the inauguration of the 6th governing council of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and Supervising Minister of Information, Mr. Edem Duke, said the government expected to see advertising make the same impact it reputed to have made on the perception and profitability of brands, on the perception and indeed development of the Nigerian brand.

He said as image management experts, “you must strive to rebrand Nigeria appropriately. This is a public service that should concern all of us because the consequences of Nigeria’s negative image arising from the actions of a few bad eggs at home and abroad affect all of us since we are all Nigerians.”

According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan administration regards the advertising industry as an important stakeholder in re-branding Nigeria properly.

He said: “The government will, therefore, always appreciate your professional advice in this regard. I, therefore, wish to assure you that government will continue to provide an enabling environment for improved performance of the economy and in so doing make the business of advertising thrive in Nigeria in tandem with the Transformational Agenda of the government.

“For the governing board of APCON, I wish to emphasize that today, you are accepting a major responsibility, a resolve to effect positive changes in the practice and bestow on the profession a new lease of life.

The newly inaugurated Chairman of APCON, Mr. Udeme Ufot, appreciated the support and understanding of other levels of government and the National Assembly towards effective resulotion of the 18-month crisis that bedevilled the council.