OAAN Decries High Charges by Signage Agencies

Funmi Ogundare
The President of Outdoor Advertising Agency of Nigeria (OAAN), Mr. Emmanuel Ajufo has decried the excessive bills being charged the association by regulatory agencies, saying the abnormal rates are having adverse effects on outdoor practitioners.
Ajufo who made this known, while briefing journalists, recently, in Lagos, expressed concern that the association was being charged for vacant sites and called for reduction.

He recalled that in the past outdoor platforms used to be the cheapest and most affordable, pointing out that the current abnormal charges have led to closing down of agencies and unemployment in the sector.

He said, “ The advertising budget is one that we share among various platforms. Today, they charge over N2 million on the face of a unipole and as businessmen, we will have to sell that board for a minimum of N5 million for us to make money because we also pay salary.

“Assuming that they were charging N500,000 for instance, and we now have to sell it for N1.5 or N2 million, you can see that those who cannot afford N5 million, will be able to afford N2 million. That is one thing we feel that they should do. We have been talking and calling on the government to reduce the rates. To worsen the situation, we are still made to pay the same rate for vacant boards.

“We feel that it is not right and we have also taken our case to those who are concerned; the MD of LASAA, Federal Ministry of Works and we know that the state governor is a listening governor. We are aware that they have advertised in the papers saying that most of the roads are theirs and we believed that they should resolve the issues in our favour. We feel that anytime they talk about concessions, they are throwing away those who are already there and our members will be out of business.”

The General Secretary, Mr. Sola Akinsiku expressed hope that once it is able to resolve the concession issue in Lagos, other states will take a cue from it, adding that if concession is allowed to become the other of the day across the country, it becomes businesses for the money bags and its members will be out of business.