OAAN denies billboard operators at military, police formations

Following the alarm raised by the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) recently that some billboard operators at military and police formations in the state are defacing the city by their unplanned operations, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) has denied that those operating at those sites are their members.

Reacting to the cluttered billboards at those formations, the leadership of OAAN told BusinessDay that the operators of billboard at military and police barracks are not registered members of OAAN. “But if they are registered, they lack guidance while operating at those formations,” Charles Chijide, president, OAAN, said.

For orderliness and tidiness of operation “we want them to register with OAAN so that they will be under the association code of operation, and also as a body liaise with LASAA and see how we can organise the process of mounting billboards at those formations,” Chijide said.

The window of operating at military formations opened for some outdoor operators due to what Chijide called high handedness of the initial management of LASAA. “LASAA initial management frustrated many people to move into military formations where they think LASAA will not touch them as alternative for survival,” he said.

The OAAN, who advocated for a discussion with all concerned stakeholders to address the situation, was delighted that the new management of the agency, who is compassionate and business friendly, has opened doors for discussion on how “the operators can talk, agree and reorganise and plan the operations.

“What LASAA is interested in is planning towards creating a good environment so that what is mounted at the military barracks is sparingly and not cluttered. If there is OAAN member among them, he should be subject to rule. They should not think that it is military and nothing will happen. We are avoiding hazards. We need to get it right,” he explained.

Assessing the impact of the beginning of the year on the outdoor industry, Chijide described the period as “‘very bad.’ It was bad because of the economic situation of the country. The economy has not been improving, the advertisers are not spending money, rather they are cutting advertising budget. As of today, my members are getting letters cancelling sites.”

According to him, cutting advertising budget does not help planning; it is wrong to cut advertising spend when business is not rosy because it is when they should create appetite for buying.

On whether he sees the situation changing in the second half, he said since advertisers were predicting it by cutting their budget, things might not improve in the second half.

Also in his reaction, the former president of OAAN, Kole Ademulegun advised those operating at military barracks to submit themselves to the rules, saying “the rule is respecting distances between billboards, which is key and avoid cluttering.”

Ademulegun also called on LASAA to negotiate with various stakeholders and try to listen to their views before coming up with a penalty, saying “LASAA should engage us in dialogue.

“More importantly, most of the operators at military formations may have not registered with OAAN and if they are members, what they need do is to regularise their operations and where they are not respecting the laws of the land, they should be guided.”