In this valedictory interview by AKIN ADEWAKUN, the immediate past president of the Out of Home Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (OAAN), Chief Emma Ajufo, gives the scorecard of his administration, while expressing his reservations on the policy of some states’ outdoor regulatory agencies to charge members on vacant billboards. Excerpts:
CAN you give us the scorecard of your administration in the past four years?
We took off in 2019, and ended the first tenure in 2021. We were re-elected in 2021. We must commend the press for standing by us throughout our challenges, one particular challenge is when this issue of concession started, we invited the press and they stood by us. They also played a very important role, when some big shots stood by the other side and they were not with us, and through your write-ups they also felt the need to join OAAN. So today OAAN is a bigger and larger family. We can boast of a more united OAAN today, an OAAN that is more cohesive.
What would you consider the highlights of the administration?
Besides building a more cohesive association, we were able to confront our challenges. In the past, we had shied away from taking up our issues with our regulators. I keep saying that our regulators are supposed to be there to enhance our business. Any regulator that does not do that is not helping us. And so we have had to say to ourselves that we needed to get a third party to interpret some of our laws, and we decided to start with that of LASAA. And as we know most states take off from what Lagos State is doing. We did not have issues with the LASAAs of this world, but we have issues when our businesses are being killed by their policies. So we go to court to help us interpret the LASAA laws, because when you also engage the LASAA management, they will tell you that most of our members are owing them a lot.
But why are your members unwilling to pay their debts?
I can tell you ahead that most of the debts are charged on vacant sites. As I speak, a lot of our members have been enforced. However we have a new person at the helm of affairs in LASAA, now, that is one of us. In fact when the last man went, we also got the press to talk about the kind of person that should be at the helm of affairs. And so we are happy that a core practitioner is the MD of LASAA today, and we have also written to him. Our members will not shy away from meeting their responsibilities, our members will be on the side of government anytime, any day. But we also appeal to the government to do things right.
Have you resolved the issue of charges on vacant billboards?
We feel that it is very immoral to charge us for vacant sites. We feel that the law in their wisdom said we should pay on earnings, we don’t earn on vacant sites. So that is one of the things we expect this new management to help us to tidy. Once that is done, the others will be easy for us to patch up here and there. We have told him that we will cooperate with him, and we will cooperate with all the legal bodies that have one impact or the other on our business. But we also expect them to cooperate with us.
You recently embarked on rebranding the association. What is this all about?
Yes, we have rebranded. We are now known as the Out -of -Home Advertising Association of Nigeria. That’s the first stage of the rebranding. As we journey along, the other stages will come. We will have a new logo. I think that is something that also defines us as an association that is forward-looking.
A lot of people would want to know the reasons behind your decision to drop the Poster Awards, an annual event meant to celebrate achievers in the industry?
In the past we used to have Poster Award. Again, in line with our change in focus, we no longer have it as we used to. We’ve now changed it to OAAN Awards and Exhibition. We had the first one last year, and it was adjudged to be very good, but because we have a lot on our hands we may not be able to do one this year. But the new Exco, it is believed, will come with a lot of energy, and continue from there. But at least we now have a new focus in that area. It is now OAAN Awards and Exhibition.
What would you consider the legacies of your administration?
We believe strongly that we are leaving OAAN better than we met it.
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