The Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN) has been urged to consider independent existence for the good of outdoor advertising practitioners.
The Association was also urged to ponder whether the Lagos State Structures for Signage and Advertisement Agency Law has not taken away the control and regulation of outdoor advertising function of the Local Government Councils in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution under Section 7 (and Section 36 of the Administration of Local Government Law) and vested it in the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA).
These were some of the issues raised by the guest speaker, Barr. CIC Chikwendu at the Annual General Meeting of OAAN held in Lagos at the weekend.
Chikwendu who spoke on the topic:
“OOH Business and Nigeria Regulatory Laws’ disclosed that in the Constitution of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 1999, advertising is not one of the matters mentioned in the body of the Constitution.
“It is also not one of the matters mentioned in the Exclusive List on which only the Federal Legislature can legislate.
It is also not one of the matters mentioned in the Concurrent List on which both the Federal and State Legislatures can legislate.
“It is therefore one of the many matters called residual matters. The position is that State Legislatures may legislate on residual matters. The Constitution however places outdoor advertising and hoarding under the control and regulation of the Local Government Council.”
Taking a cursory look at the functions of Local Government Councils, Barrister Chikwendu said the functions conferred upon the Local Government Councils include those set out in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution. “By item 1 (k) (i) of the Fourth Schedule, one of the main functions of the Local Government Council is the control and regulation of out-door advertising and hoarding.
“Local Government Councils in all the States carried out this function of control and regulation of out-door advertising and hoarding, albeit haphazardly, until 2006 when Lagos State introduced the Structures for Signage and Advertisement Agency Law.
He added: “Lagos State having seemingly succeeded in surmounting a legal challenge to this Law, many other States have copied and enacted similar Laws. The implication of this is that control and regulation of outdoor advertising in States have, at least for the present, been effectively removed from Local Government Councils and vested in agencies of these States.
Aside this, the law expert explained further that the Advertising Practitioners (Registration, Etc.) Act (APCON Act) which came into force on 27th December, 1988, save from determining and registering outdoor advertising practitioners as advertising practitioners, the regulatory powers of the Council under the Act appear not to extend to outdoor advertising.
“The vetting which the Council does through the Standards Panel appears to be limited to the content of advertisement. Outdoor advertising as I understand it does not involve content development or copy writing and so has nothing to be vetted by the Standards Panel.
What appears in outdoor Billboards ought to have passed through the Standards Panel before getting to outdoor advertising agency.
“It therefore appears that the outdoor advertising agency is the most exposed of all advertising agencies to external control and regulation by the Federal, State and Local Government agencies and their challenges with government agencies, outdoor advertising practitioners may have to stand alone as there is no provision in the APCON Act that requires the Council be of assistance to them,” he explained.
President of the Association, Chief Emmanuel Ajufo said the AGM apart from being an opportunity to render accounts of their stewardship to members, it also provides the opportunity for external stakeholders to exchange views with members and to share their thoughts as it concerns their business.
“Our engagements with our major stakeholders are beginning to yield fruits but it will seem that we still have a long way to go. We have enjoyed good relationship with our Regulator, APCON.
“Similarly, our relationship with the critical stakeholders within the Advertising eco system have been wonderful as their support in our struggles has been unprecedented. I am talking about the Heads of Sectoral Groups, (HASG).
“We still count on your support as the challenges facing us can only be fully contained with a united HASG.”
Ajufo further disclosed that a lot of progress seems to have been made with partnering with signage agencies but there still need to continue to engage them until they see outdoor advertising practitioners as partners in progress.
“While, we do not have anything against the signage agencies earning income from their services to us, we should not be seen as the State Government’s major source of IGR after oil.
He continued: “We believe that Signage Agencies should rather focus their minds on how to ensure sustainable growth of our industry.
The president added that when LASAA came on board, one of the things promised was to elevate hoardings to the status of real estate where we can use our billboards as collaterals to source for fund “but several years after the policy summersaults which made this laudable initiative impossible to happen.
“As an association, we will continue to push for things that will bring sustainable growth to the industry. Today, if you want to access funds for business growth, they ask for houses as collateral, meanwhile, we have what is costlier than the buildings in our hoardings.
“We are therefore going to pursue the recognition by CBN to use billboards as collaterals.
In his goodwill message, the Registrar, APCON, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo assured OAAN members of support and the continuous efforts to develop framework that will help the advertising business in the country.
“However, notwithstanding the challenges they are going through as a sector, they should keep pushing as the Council will continue to support them by involving policies that will sustain their growth as well as protect their investment.
On the onslaught by signage agencies, Dr Fadolapo said Kaduna State Signage agency has agree to a meeting,
OAAN leadership has agreed to a meeting and as the regulator we are facilitating the meeting and I am sure that the three of us can look at the ways of ensuring that we resolve the issue without resulting to court.”
Also present at the event were the President Advertisers Association of Nigeria, (ADVAN), Mr. Osamede Uwabormmwen; Vice President, Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), Tolulope Medebem, among others.
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