The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria has warned that unregistered marketers in the country who have yet to comply with the NIMN Act, 2003 by August 31 may face prosecution.
According to the institute, the Act makes it illegal to practise marketing without being a registered member of the NIMN which has the sole regulatory powers for the marketing profession in Nigeria.
President of the institute and Chairman of Council, Tony Agenmonmen, who gave the warning at his investiture for a second term in office, added that defaulters “would start having their days in court from September 1.”
He stated that the current council of the NIMN was determined to enforce the law as compliance was not a matter of choice for anyone practising marketing in Nigeria.
He said the approach of the institute in the last two years was to avoid the use of force in the enforcement the Act except as a last resort.
Agenmonmen said, “In line with this approach, we have in the last two years done all the needful to drive voluntary compliance. We wrote directly to the major marketing companies availing them of copies of the ACT and the current register of members.
“We held consultations with NECA and ADVAN to further sensitise them to 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.”
He also said the institute would publish its code of marketing ethics in November.
Agenmonmen pledged that the institute was determined to offer mentorship to young marketers in the country so as to build their capacity and make them more professional.
The NIMN leader said, “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.”