COVID-19: ADVAN Donates Relief Materials to Journalists, Students, Traders

The Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), the umbrella body for advertisers in the country, has extended some relief items worth millions of Naira to journalists, students and some petty traders in the Ikeja environ in order to ease the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In what it tagged, “Advertisers Community Support Initiative,” a collaborative efforts of Nigerian Brands under the auspices of the ADVAN, some of the associations that benefited from the relief items are the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria, BJAN.

Speaking at the presentation of the relief items on behalf of the Excos at the ADVAN Head Office in Ikeja, the Executive Secretary of the Association, Mrs. Ediri Ose-Ediale said the association would also reach out to others within its reach to help uplift the vulnerable in the society.

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“This is the little way the association is helping to reduce the burden of the pandemic on those that are in critical condition as a result of our present challenge,” she said.

“We have identified two groups which we believe really need to be assisted especially during this COVID-19 challenges. The are the Brand Journalists who are very critical to us as well as our students.”

Also speaking at the presentation, ADVAN Publicity Secretary, Bukonla Bankole (Tolaram Group) said, “Our members – advertisers- have been rendering essential community services to ameliorate the COVID-19 experience and support their different segments of people on an individual company basis. However, on this occasion, we have decided as ADVAN to also do something a little bit bigger to support some specific associations and communities”.

Aside the donations, ADVAN promised to support NANS and BJAN in the area of training and capacity development; and enlightenment especially during this coronavirus pandemic.

According to Bankole, “The training and enlightenment support becomes necessary because people will need new knowledge and skills as much as they can find, adapt to the new realities in our places of work and life in general.”

Apart from the two associations, bags of palliative products were also handed out to female petty traders resident in the Opebi community who attended the brief session.

The products for the palliative were provided by members including the Tolaram group, Unilever, FrieslandCampinaWamco, Stanbic IBTC, and Nestle among others.

In his response, BJAN Chairman, Mr. Princewill Ekwujuru thanked ADVAN for its kind gesture.

Ekwujuru said, the support given to the members of his association would go a long way in ameliorating the hardship being faced by journalists especially in this period of COVID-19 pandemic.

Other members of the association’s delegation included Mr. Lukman Ishau, the General Secretary, Mr. Olufemi Adeyemi Chief Information Officer and the Financial Secretary, Mr. Akeem Salau.

ADVAN is the only association in Nigeria which represents the collective interests of ‘Advertisers’ (Corporate organizations that engage in high level marketing).

ADVAN was founded in 1992, to advance the interest of the marketing Industry in Nigeria by spearheading and ensuring global best practices as well as facilitating collaborative partnerships with relevant stakeholders.

Today, ADVAN is a strong voice of over 70 of the biggest organisations in Nigeria representing over 200 brands with an annual marketing spend of well over N200 billion.