Emmanuel Ajufo: OAAN is Not in Support of LASAA’s Planned Concession of Federal Roads

Interview

Emmanuel Ajufo is the current President of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN). In this interview with Adedayo Adejobi, he speaks on the Lagos State’s concession of federal roads and the role of LASAA in the scheme, exploitation by the signage agencies in different states, the implications of excessive billing on businesses, and how APCON’s standard operating practice guidelines will bring calm and order to the industry. Excerpts:

There is an issue of concession of federal roads in Lagos State. What is the plan of the association to mitigate the attendant risks, or are you happy with that?

 The moment we got to hear about the concession, we told the LASAA that the concession is not the best option. It’s not the same as what happened in the Lekki corridor. On the Lekki corridor, they built roads, and when they opened up, they wanted to recoup the monies spent. But, we don’t see why there should be a concession of these seven roads, apart from the federal roads being developed.

 If it is about making more money, what they need to do is to call to discuss. Our members working in Lagos also employ the citizens of Lagos State, and any opportunity they have been used to develop themselves so they can employ more people. We are not in support of the concession.

We have spoken to LASAA and men of goodwill to prevail on them. We hope that one of these days, we will have the opportunity to meet with the Governor. But he can only talk to us if he listens to our side before he can appreciate where we are coming from.

We are not in support of the concession. Concession will bring monopoly and monopoly is not good for the economy.

It would seem as if LASAA is going ahead with its move to concession the roads despite the caveat published by the Federal Ministry of Works, who are the owners of most of the roads. What alternatives are open to OAAN?

I hope they won’t go on this route, I hope so. As an association, we have our Plan B. I hope that it won’t get to that stage.

You are not considering legal tussle, are you?

 No, we are not planning to go to court on this. We are going to court on a different thing, maybe if you ask me why we are going to court, I will tell you why we are going to court but not on this issue.

We have different levels of relationship before we get to the executive governor. After the Managing Director, we want to see the commissioner for the environment who supervises his office, but we are also talking to men of influence who can make us meet the governor. Ultimately, we want to see the governor.

Recently, we were with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. LCCI is the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We are a member of that body, they have also talked to us and they agree that regulation is not business. We are using the LCCI to canvass our situation.

Anything that happens to us ultimately happens to commerce. We cannot just go to court, at least not on the issue of the concession. Where we are is to use persuasion and let them see our fate.

We also have a committee in place so that we can get to a stage to meet with the commissioner and the governor. We also do not think that regulation is our business.

Is the experience with LASAA replicated across other states?

Some are very understanding. Ogun State is very friendly, and that’s why we did our Annual General Meeting there. The governor sponsored the last AGM we had.

We have a good relationship with Ogun, Oyo, and Anambra states. Lagos is not the source of all that we have but because of the law, that is why we agreed to sort out Lagos. Even at that, we have seen some friendly agencies who have seen our situation and are helping us.

We have not reached the destination but we are on the road.

Is it that proliferated government signage regulatory agencies don’t know their mandate? The level of position somersaults, policy inconsistency, over-regulation brings to fore many questions.

Yes and No. I think it was George Nouah when he was MD LASAA, who followed us to the United States of America to study how regulation is done because we don’t have a problem with regulation. I still tell my members that regulation is good for us. Some of us could remember how we were practising before the regulation came. But the business aspect of the regulation is what we quarrel with. I don’t see anywhere where regulatory agencies get to do business.

We also have practitioners who develop a wonderful proposal to the state governments’, saying, If you just put me there I will generate millions of naira’. Of course, if any governor sees that kind of proposal, he will jump at it.

A lot of the governors do not know what we do. They use us for politics, and beyond that, they do not know our worth.

So, when the person with the proposal says he can make money and the governor cannot see that money, that is where the issue comes. That is why the Ogun State man looked at us and treated us favourably.

 What is the role of APCON in the ongoing impasse?

Advertising Practitioners Association of Nigeria (APCON) is supposed to regulate content, regulate practitioners’ structure. Before the signage agency came, you recall that it was the local government that we’re doing it. They were supposed to do control of structures but then before you practice advertising you should be recognised by APCON. APCON is supposed to certify advertisements to make sure that it is not communicating anything wrong.

But, there is a new law that should come out, when it comes out it will give APCON more power. We need to know what APCON can do,  State and Federal mandates, and the limitations of the state regulatory agencies. It is not too clear. After that law comes out, there will be clarity.

It is very unconstitutional for the local government to concede its powers to State Government. What will be your recommendation to review this constitution?

It is not for us to begin to fight for local government. The local government is supposed to fight for its rights. I think that the way to resolve it is when you have multiple parties in each state. Like in Delta for instance they have an equivalent of LASAA They have DELSAA and the local government is not afraid to collect their money because they know their rights. Outdoor agencies pay directly to local government in Delta.

So, the way we also have our fear of challenging the government, and that probably is the reason local governments are afraid to challenge the government because if you challenge the government they can remove you. But I think that if you have a stubborn chairman, we can challenge that.

In the last years of your Presidency at OAAN, what have you done differently?

If you called for a boycott before, nobody would listen to you. Today, it was tough enough for LASAA MD to call us. If it was not tough, they won’t call us.

Also, we met this issue of debt, which led us into developing our Standard Operating Practice (SOP). After the SOP has been done, the APCON Registrar will sign, then we have our industry SOP.

With the SOP, the issue of debt will be taken care of because, if you signed a contract with us it is now binding by law to pay. Today we don’t know when we are going to be paid, they will tell you stories upon stories.

When I finish my tenure as President, I will like to be remembered as someone who challenged the status quo for the good of our members.

How do you see the OAAN of the future, especially with the advent of technology in advertising?

We can’t pretend that innovation is the way forward and I’m proud of our members. There is nothing you find in other parts of the world that is not in Nigeria today.

Today, the digital box and the other outdoor advertising apertures are very expensive in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. In other places, it is not rampant. So, it will take some time before other cities can begin to feel like Lagos. Because today the advertising structure, we have the ABCD zone.

On artificial intelligence, we should take the positive part of the technology that comes and we should also apply ourselves.

Going forward, we will institute a scheme to reward agencies who are more ethical and honest contracts.

What were the highlights of your concluded Annual General Meeting?

The AGM was essential to look at our constitution and then use the opportunity to also review certain things that are happening to us in the industry.

We’ve had our constitution for about ten years and the challenges that we’re having today were not there. So, we needed another constitution that will lead us to face the present challenges and for what to come in the future. It also allowed us to look at some other issues. The recent one is the planned concession of the roads in Lagos. We the executives can only lead based on what our members want us to do.

A leader cannot stand alone. If we do not have the backing of the members, we cannot do so much. We asked our members how they felt about it, and they provided the direction that we should go. Issues on the constitution, progress made were also at the front burner. It was a good one and everyone was happy.