Rivers pornographic billboard: We’ve queried the agency concerned —OAAN

The council of Out of Home Advertisers Association of Nigeria (OAAN) said it had queried a member-agency, E-Motion Communications, whose electronic billboard showed a 60-second pornographic video at the Garrison Area of Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, recently.

The association’s president, Mr Emma Ajufo, disclosed this in an exclusive chat with Brands & Marketing, recently.

He explained that besides being queried, verbally, initially, the association also followed it up with a written query, which the concerned agency had since responded to.

Ajufo added that though the act might not have been deliberately committed, two staff of the agency had already been arrested and were being prosecuted by the River State government.

The OAAN’s boss explained that the association decided to issue the written query as a way of documenting what transpired, with the aim of reaching an agreement that such act would never happen again in the sector.

“It’s quite unfortunate, but OAAN, as a body, has taken action. We’ve issued the agency concerned query. But we want to make sure that we tidied up the environment before we begin to chase our members. We have also asked him to show us further documents which he’s going to show us.

“APCON is also a regulator, and I’m sure APCON is looking at it from the point of view that he’s also a member that must be disciplined.

“We have also spoken to the Rivers State government through the River Signage Agency to get hear their side of the story.

“We have, however, found out that it was a mistake that can happen to anybody, even though it was a very costly one, and there are consequences for mistakes when they happen. But I can assure you, we are definitely not going to sweep the issue under the carpet,” he added.