Giving our agitations for chartered status ethnic colouration, unfortunate —Akinsiku, OAAN President

In this interview with AKIN ADEWAKUN, the president of the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Sola Akinsiku, discusses the association’s burning desire for a chartered status among other issues affecting the advertising sub-sector, describing giving such agitations ethnic and political colourations as mischief.

HAS it been since October 2023 when you were sworn in as the president of the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN)?

It is exciting. Yes, there are challenges. There have been moments you wanted to look at your strategies and be sure you knew what you were doing, but it’s been exciting, because I have had the privilege of running alongside individuals who have the interest of the association at heart, and members  have also shown significant interest in their business, and in the association. I’ve also got maximum cooperation from leaders, from the Board of Trustees of the association.  I’m sure you also know that the immediate past president, Emmanuel Ajufo is deeply involved in the administration. He’s always there to offer advice and even run errands, for us. So it’s been exciting, though it’s equally challenging.

 

How would you assess 2024 for O-o-H practice?

Well, 2024 for Out–of-Home Advertising practice was with its own challenges. Don’t forget 2021, 2022 the COVID-19 thing was still taking its toll on business. It got so bad that during the lockdown, since  OoH is out there, and people must go out to appreciate it. So the lockdown hit us so badly. But beginning from 2023, businesses began to bounce back, and because of this, OoH practice also enjoyed some lift. And so I think 2024 was a better year compared to the years immediately before it, and we are expecting that 2025 will be an improvement on the last one.

 

You promised your administration will adopt a more cordial relationship with states’ regulatory agencies and governments as part of your agenda. How far have you gone in straightening out the rough edges between the association and these agencies of government?

We are not on a warpath with the regulators. What should therefore happen, and which OAAN had been doing even before I became president, is to promote dialogue, it is better to have an understanding that it is not the billboards that vomit money. Prosperity in Out-of-Home media platform management is a function of the capacity of the advertisers buying them. And so, the two of us are critical to the achievement of the marketing communication objectives of the advertisers, talking of the OAAN and the signage agencies. But of late, we have enjoyed better understanding and cooperation with the signage agencies.

 

The issue of the ‘Charter Bill” which the association is pursuing seems to be creating some ripples, with some arguing it will inflict more financial pains on your members. They claim your members will have multiple levies to grapple with: they will pay to you, pay to ARCON and other agencies of government. What is your response to this?

Whoever is saying that does not understand what we are asking for.  It could also be because such individuals have not read the Bill. It could also be for mischief making. You know advertising was a practice in Nigeria before APCON (Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria) came. How did it go then? We had big names in the industry then, and we had big advertisers advertising in Nigeria. But, once you could speak good English, and do some creative works, you saw yourself as advertising practitioners. You could go to news media organizations to place your advertisement. So it was like in the beginning in the Bible, it was without form, it was without proper coordination. There was no regulation. Even at a time, Daily Times opened a register and wanted to be registering practitioners. It was that bad. Then some gentlemen came together, the Ayo Owoborodes, the Moemekes, the Steve Omojafors, the Biodun Shobanjos of this world. They said ‘let’s organise ourselves. Let us be more professional. Let this practice attract the best brains. Let’s do self regulation’. And so the journey began, and therefore Decree 1988 came, championed by those people. And so they set the standards for anyone who wants to do advertising. These are the educational standards you must have, so that there could be sanity in the industry. When APCON now came, it brought dignity to the practice. It brought excellence to the practice. But don’t forget, when APCON was coming by the design then, it was for creativity. Somehow, media people were brought in, including OAAN. But, between then and now, Decree 5 of 1988 that created APCON, has been reviewed over and over, and the last review brought ARCON, (Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria). It was self-regulation when APCON started, now it is government regulation, leaving the practitioners out, maybe in the cold. That’s for another discussion later. The practice of OoH will be 100 in three years in Nigeria. And between then and now, practitioners in that sector, have regularly come together to self-regulate. And so it is obvious that practitioners in that group should take the next step that will recognise their practice, as a profession. It is all in the interest of making this practice a profession. During COVID-19, organisations were writing to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CNN) to get assistance. OAAN members needed assistance. But we could not get it because it’s not a recognised profession.

 

But where did the idea of getting a charter status for the association come from?

This pursuit did not just start yesterday. I’ll take you back to 2014, when Dr. Charles Chijide was the association’s president. The problems of the industry then, like we have today, were monumental and daunting.   A governor would say, ‘Remove all these billboards, they are environmental nuisance’. And in protecting the businesses, the council then was looking for a solution, and that was what took them to Senator Abaribe, who was in the house then. He advised that the only way to get out of this is to have a Bill that will charter our practice, and make it a profession. So, if it is now recognised as a profession, it is not going to be an all-comers’ practice. You will have a body of knowledge, a certified education that individuals who want to go into it must have.

 

But how do you allay the fears of those who believe the charter simply means more money to be coughed out by practitioners?

I sympathise with people who say it’s going to be a burden. Why are they crying more than the bereaved? Three to four AGMs, OAAN had discussed with members, that ‘this is what we are thinking, what do you think?’ And members agreed. Members are not robots, they are not idiots. The association parades some of the best brains in the industry today. So it is not that Emmanuel Ajufo, and Sola Akinsiku said, let us get chartered and they all followed. This charter is not saying you pay charter subscription and membership subscription. It is just one subscription. Paying to ARCON is a standard. If you are a registered advertising practitioner, you must pay your practice fee to ARCON. As a member of OAAN and a practitioner, I pay my practice fee to ARCON, and my subscription to OAAN, as a member of the association. So the issue of overburdening members does not arise at all.  Besides, I need to correct the impression that the charter status is about taking over the responsibilities of ARCON and local government. It’s not true. People don’t come to us to get approvals for billboards. They don’t do so now, and the bill is not seeking them doing so. Any advertisement that must be exposed in Nigeria, the law has given the power to ARCON for approval. And we demand this approval from them before doing business with them. We are not taking over the job of anyone. All we are saying is that let there be standard

 

Still on the charter issue, there is another argument making the rounds that the agitation is being driven by politics and ethnicity?

That can only come from the camp of mischief makers. People who do not want anything good for this country. Senator Abaribe remains one of the most respected senators in the country. Every senator must be interested in what hurts his people. The pain has been there for some time. The destinies of our people are no longer in their hands. The only time you can go to bed is when you haven’t received the instruction to come and remove your billboards within seven days, because there were charlatans. So the Senator got interested. So if anybody is giving it ethnic and political colourations, it is rather unfortunate.

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