The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the parliament will strengthen the activities of marketers and marketing profession in Nigeria.

This, he said, will make the sector be in line with international best practices.

Gbajabiamila said a situation where young Nigerians are employed by financial institutions as marketers and given unrealistic targets should be discouraged.

He also recalled how Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of banks, some of whom were women, opposed a move by the National Assembly to protect marketers from abuse due to difficult targets set for them.

The Speaker said this in Abuja on Wednesday when he received a delegation of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria led by the President, Mr Tony Agenmonmen.

Gbajabiamila said  “Let me thank you for this unexpected honour that you conferred on me. I’ll always cherish this everywhere I go.

“One thing that concerns me is that you have a lot of people out there that go around in the name of marketing.

I’m talking about the banking sector where young men and women are employed.

You employ me in January but by September, you’re saying I should meet a particular target, not in millions but around one billion (naira).

Without saying it, we all know what happens.

“We tried to stop that in the past and I brought a bill on that some years back.

But I was surprised by the pushback that I got from some banks, including women.

Some women MDs (managing directors) came for the public hearing and kicked against it.

“I want to see how we can address that once again because we can’t sit back and allow such things to happen.

There are international best practices and we should be able to follow that.

If you can present a paper on that, we have a committee on banking.

Let me have a synopsis and see how we’ll go about it. I believe that together we can arrest the situation.”

Gbajabiamila said the House would work with the NIMN to improve marketing profession.

He also commended the institute for its efforts since 2003 when it was established by an Act of Parliament, saying there is need for improvement.

The Speaker said the House would be represented at the institute’s annual conference for this year, which comes up in April in Benin, Edo State.

Earlier, the NIMN, which conferred an honorary membership on the Speaker, said it was due to his role in marketing good governance through good legislation in the country.

Agenmonmen, while seeking the support of the House to improve the institute, noted that there were loopholes in the existing Act establishing the institute and that there was a need for an amendment.

Saying the institute was ready to collaborate with the House, the NIMN President added that some people practise marketing without the requisite qualifications and requirements, calling for the support of the House to put a stop to that.

“We believe it’s important to respect the law. We have started deregistering those that don’t follow the law. We need your support on this,” he said.