The International Advertising Association Nigeria (IAA Nigeria) is set to partner with the practitioners and universities in addressing knowledge and skills gaps facing the industry especially through building a solid foundation and future for marketing communication in Nigeria.
Speaking at a recent cocktail in Lagos, the International Advertising Association Nigeria, President, Dr. Tunji Olugbodi, said the interest of practitioners in marketing communication have to do with capacity building, strong leadership and representation of interest and young professionals, in all the genres of marketing communication.
He acknowledged the existence of a lot of gaps in the industry, especially knowledge and skills gaps.
He stated that there are specific areas in the industry that are not growing as many people don’t quickly take up those responsibilities as soon as possible.
He lamented the dearth of concept or copy writers, strategic planners and people in different areas, “but these two areas come readily to me as areas we need to fill and ensure that it is not a dying vocation.”
According to him, “What is clear is that there is need for a central coordination to identify where the challenges are about the skills and knowledge gaps, to understand what needs to be done and harness that; not just from the local but a global point of view.
“Alongside these, IAA is also designing projects that will help it engage the different universities in the pilot scheme, as well as encouraging student-membership with as low as N5, 000 per year, which gives them access to a lot of benefits.
“The plan, basically, is to nurture young tertiary students to become very active players in the economic setting of their nation.
“It turns out that locally, that is also the strategy that we have adopted – one area we are going to use to encourage students to become members of IAA, not just for today but tomorrow. The only way you can grow and grow into the future is when you have people who have more active participation in what you stand for,” he added.
