It is indeed very unfortunate that everything is outsourced : “The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, (ARCON) has disclosed that Nigeria’s advertising industry loses over N120 billion annually to the production of advertisements, and marketing communication materials outside the country.”
Yet, legislation or regulation will not provide a quick fix. We need to elevate the quality of our education and skill development. When that happens, those outsourcing will see pricing advantages internally. Running a business is not about 100% patriotism because in the balance sheet, there is no patriotism row. In other words, you cannot expect companies to score own-goals by giving contracts to local companies which may delay production for weeks because there is no electricity.
As an IT staff in old Diamond Bank Lagos, part of the job was making sure you have enough diesel in the generators and also managing NEPA (national grid staff). If for any reason, there is scarcity of diesel, you have to lobby for NEPA to provide light to the line where the servers are connected to avoid the IT systems being shut down.
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At 1am, you go there and beg them. Beg them. Cry and cry because if they refuse, your job is gone. It is irrelevant that you were not hired to visit the NEPA office thrice in the night, lobbying for light. But one day, the bank added backup generators and extended diesel storage, making NEPA irrelevant.
See this advertising production paralysis from that angle. We must build capacity to deepen value even as we encourage companies to look inwards. If we have that, they will. Sure, the companies are expected to be part of that solution but it cannot be by fiat because they are not running charities.
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, (ARCON) has disclosed that Nigeria’s advertising industry loses over N120 billion annually to the production of advertisements, and marketing communication materials outside the country.
This was disclosed by the Director-General of ARCON, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo who revealed that the exorbitant amount spent on advertising has continuously led to the huge loss of jobs which has retarded the growth and development of the Nigerian advertising industry.
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