NAN: The Federal Government has urged stakeholders in the advertising industry to implement the nation’s laws and policy promoting the use of local contents for at least 40 per cent of advertisement contents.
The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Dasuki Arabi, made the plea on Saturday in Abuja, while receiving the management of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), led by its Registrar, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, which was on a working visit.
According to Arabi, it is important that the advertising industry plays a leading role, as required of it in promoting local content in its productions to be in line with a provision in the Executive Order 5 of the Federal Government.
President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Executive Order 5 on Feb. 5, 2018, partly to improve local content in public procurement in all areas, especially science, engineering and technology components.
The Executive Order demonstrates the Federal Government’s efforts to promote the application of science, technology and innovation within Nigeria to enhance the national developmental goal of improving all sectors of the economy.
“The issue of local content is very important to the country now that the government is changing the face of development across areas and segments in promoting national interests,” he said.
Arabi said that the idea to re-brand the public sector became imperative, especially in the quest to ensure that government creates a unified master brand which could among others be used to achieve strategic objectives.
These, he said, include boosting the nation’s image, building stronger sense of national unity, delivering digital services, improving government’s communication to citizens, and redirecting focus on services provided by government departments.
“In the light of the foregoing, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, approved the composition of an Inter-Ministerial Technical Working Committee on Re-branding of the Nigeria Public Sector in 2019.
“The initiative essentially addresses Federal Government’s concerns toward creating a Unified Master-Brand Architecture to handle government’s branding and information management for enhanced service delivery,” he said.
He said that so far, the committee had submitted an interim report; developed its Terms of Reference and strategic framework for developing a brand management for the public sector.
“The COVID-19 pandemic had somehow slowed the space of work on the assignment. It is hoped, however, that with the phased ease of the lockdown and further directives from the SGF, the committee will proceed further with the assignment,” he added.
In his remarks, Dr Fadolapo, said that there had been lots of improvement in the advertisement sector in the country and that there is still room for more positive development.
He added that the two organisations also pledged to deepen their working relationship, especially in the areas of civil and public sectors reforms.
