A don, Dr Usman Owolabi, last Tuesday said that huge stock of debts being owed marketers were impacting negatively on the nation’s emerging marketing industry.

Owolabi, a lecturer in the Department of Management Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho, Oyo State, made the observation in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

He said that high debts owed marketing firms had led to the loss of experienced professionals in the industry.

According to him, in recent times, new products find it difficult to penetrate the market because of absence of marketing experts to position the products because “besides Lagos, there are very few proficient marketers that you can find.

“The absence of marketing experts is responsible for the ridiculous and poor sales observed all over the country,” he said.

He said also that most of the practitioners were not well groomed in the craft of marketing goods and services.

“Majority of our people jumped into marketing without prior knowledge on how it is managed.

“It is worrisome that persons, who are regarded as marketing consultants, are neither members nor associates of any professional organisations.

Usman said that the social media was one platform of marketing of goods and services that had not being fully harnessed by Nigerians.

“We are yet to exploit the prospect that most of the social media platforms, which include Twitter and Facebook.

“The citizens of the country can be empowered considering the number of owners of businesses and clients who meet on the various social sites,” he said.