OAAN outlines 2023 plans
By Felicia Nwosu
As part of its strategic annual plan to achieve set goals and execute its vision for growth with actionable ideas, the Out-of-home Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) has outlined some of the milestone plans that will guide the activities of the advertising body for the year 2023. Emmanuel Ajufo, President, OOAN, shared the plans in an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE.
“Our first executive meeting will be held on the third Wednesday of the month, to kick-start our activities and marshal our roadmap for the year. This year, we have lined up plans to execute what we hope will reshape OAAN for the better. The major challenge on the front burner is to tackle the issue our members are having with the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency, KAPSUDA, the government agency that has refused our members in the state to work peacefully. They still remove members’ billboards structures that were legally erected.
“Although we are already in court, we are also exploring alternative dispute resolution method by reaching out to the governor to wade in on the matter. I am sure he is busy with political matters. But we hope the governor will intervene timeously and broker a settlement once and for all.
“We will also continue to engage with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on our pursuit to use our billboards as collaterals. These boards are sometimes, multimillion naira investments and should be accorded their financial and economic value just like other properties and investments. It is CBN that decides what can be used for collateral, which is why we will continue to engage them to qualify our structures as collateral.
Speaking further on the challenges affecting members of the association, Ajufo highlighted the issues of government charging for vacant sites and concessioning.
“Again, we maintain that it is morally wrong for the government to charge for vacant sites. On the road concession issue, the last we heard about it was that we got a letter from the public Private partnership department, stating and assuring us that our members will not be unduly affected. We will continue to press forward in engaging them to understand that we do not want concession. We know the negative implications of concession, from what we have seen, the entire Lekki axis belongs to one company. We believe that concession does not aid or encourage competition and competition is part of the soul of a business, we don’t want it and we will continue to talk about it.”
The outdoor specialist underscored the importance of this year to the association because it is an election year which will see him hand over the baton to a new helmsman.
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