Marketing: Can we advertise?

Advertising in Nigeria is subject to ARCON pre-vetting under the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act No.23 of 2022, which requires advertisements to be vetted regardless of medium. Google imposed a comprehensive gambling advertising ban in Nigeria from March 2025, covering Search, Display Network and YouTube, removing a major paid acquisition channel. LSLGA launched the SafePlay self-exclusion scheme. Minimum age is 18 with age verification required before account funding. NBC watershed broadcast rules are not confirmed from primary sources. No mandatory bonus restrictions are confirmed. Marketing is permitted but subject to strict advertising standards, codes and guidelines set by administrative bodies. The major administrative bodies responsible for regulating advertising in the country is the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN)). Advertising is regulated in Nigeria under both general and sector-specific laws, regulations, and guidelines, which stipulate principles and requirements for advertising. The following laws, guidelines, and regulation provide specific and general principles and requirements for all forms of advertising in Nigeria: The Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Law 2021 (LSLGL)-Specific The Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice, Sales Promotion and Other Rights/Restrictions on Practice ("The Advertising Code")- General Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) Vetting Guidelines (Vetting Guidelines)- General Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA)- General Standards Organisation of Nigeria Act, 2015 (SONA)- General The National Lottery regulations ( as amended) 2007 Clause 19 states specifically that each licensee must prepare a code of conduct which conforms with that of the relevant laws passed by government agencies i.e National Broadcasting Commission,or ruling of the advertising standards authority like Advertising practitioners Council of Nigeria ( APCON)and the operator must ensure compliance with the code The recently enacted Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Law 2021 regulate Casino and all gaming activities in the State. In relation to advertising, Section 94 of the said law prohibits any adverts, promotion, publication, dissemination, and distribution of any information concerning gaming activities in the state whether remotely or otherwise unless it is a licensed or authorized activity under the law. The law further prohibits adverts, promotions, publications, disseminations, distributions of information that are: false and misleading; intended to attract underage and vulnerable persons; in or near primary or secondary school and cyber cafes which are likely to be visited by underage or vulnerable persons. ## General Principles on Advertising Some of the general principles and legal requirements for advertising in Nigeria are highlighted below. According to the Advertising Code, "all advertisement in Nigeria or directed at the Nigerian market shall be legal, decent, honest, truthful, respectful, and mindful of Nigeria's culture, constitutional tenets and relevant lawful enactments." Therefore, all forms of advertisement must be legal i.e., must not be contrary to any law in Nigeria. It must also be honest and true, respectful and cognizant of Nigeria's culture and the provisions of the constitution and local laws. Models used in advertisements to promote products or services must be Nigerians except where the concept specifically requires non-Nigerians to act in this capacity i.e majority of the content of advertisements such as, equipment, footage and production input shall as much as possible be Nigerian; Nigerian languages (English inclusive) shall be properly used in advertisements. Where the concept and business objective of the advertisement requires non-Nigerians, a fee is required to be paid to the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) for each content or version of the advertisement. Due to this requirement, the ASP may also require substantial reasons for using non-Nigerians as models from the applicant. According to Section 123 (1) of FCCPA, a producer, importer, distributor, retailer, trader or service provider shall not make any false representation to a consumer in a manner that is likely to imply any false or incorrect representation concerning those goods. Similarly, Article 84 of the Advertising Code provides that the product advertised must conform to the descriptions as provided in the advertisement. It must be an exact replication of the descriptions and features as mentioned in the pages referred to above. The descriptions, claims or illustration in an advertisement shall be subject to empirical proof or capable of substantiation- Article 23 Advertising Code. The ASP may require that advertisement content be substantiated and the evidence of claims be provided for testing. This is to ensure and confirm that the claims and illustration(s) stipulated in the advertisement are true and verifiable. Advertisements should not exploit, depict, or suggest sexual behaviour either in obvious or implied context- Article 4 Advertising Code. Advertisements must be decent and should not contain statements, pictures or illustrations which either suggest or imply sexual behaviours. The Advertising Code provides that the content of an advertisement including, statements and pictures used, must not breach any Nigerian copyright or international copyright laws or intellectual property rights. If a Company has or intends to use a third party's copyrighted works or intellectual property rights, adequate permission should be obtained from the owner of such right or referenced in the advertisement content- Article 10 Advertising Code. Advertisements should provide the price for each product in the currency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (i.e., Naira). Section 115(1) of FCCPA stipulates that "An undertaking shall not display any goods or services for sale without adequately displaying to the consumer a price of those goods or services.12 Also, majority of the advertisement content should be Nigerian, and predominantly rendered in the English language as this is the applicable language in Nigeria-Section 115(2) FCCPA. In addition to any specific sanction provided in the Advertisement Code, Article 141(b) of the Advertising Code provides a list of sanctions which the Council of APCON shall apply where provisions in the APCON Act, the Advertising Code, other regulations have been breached. These sanctions include reprimand, warning, fine, reduction of scope of licence, temporary suspension of registration or licence, removal from the register of practice, among others.