HOW LAGOS IS ACTING IN BREACH OF APCON LAWS, ALLOCATES JUICY SPOTS TO FRENCH FIRM, JCDECAUX

LAGOS, Nigeria – Players in outdoor advertising industry are angry with the Lagos State Government for creating an enabling environment for foreign firm to dominate the advertising industry in breach of APCON laws to the detriment of indigenous advertising agencies.

We gathered that top executives in Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, LASAA have allegedly received huge inducements, running into several millions of Dollars from JCDecaux, a French outdoor advertising agency, one of the biggest in the world for special advertising favours, a development experts say could worsen the situation in the labour market.

JCDecaux, not registered with APCON, currently handles all outdoor advertising services in the state.

General Secretary, Outdoor Advertisers Association of Nigeria, OAAN, Mr. Femi Ogala said quite a number of association members had petitioned authority concerned, urging them to intervene on sudden infiltration of foreign firms into indigenous businesses.

“By our findings, this outfit, which is not a member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, has been allocated some of the juicy spots by Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, LASAA, which he said, is a breach of process.

He also said, ‘it is quite unfair that LASAA gave JCDecaux such job, leaving out indigenous practitioners’. Already, an indigenous firm under OAAN, Moving Media was said to have instituted a legal action against the French firm over what the firm described as another breach of advertising status, where the foreign firm was allocated a site less than 200 meters from an existing site.

The aggrieved indigenous, Moving Media said such move was to enforce the 400meter minimum distance allowed by advertising code. JCDecaux had noted that the site was allocated upon the filing of Moving Media to LASAA that it was vacating the space soonest, which was denied by Moving Media.

“OAAN had tried to mediate in this matter by trying to reach out to representatives of both parties, who had occupied the spot for over a decade without defaulting on payment of LASAA dues, but JCDecaux has not been responsive”, Ogala stated.

Insinuations are rife that Lagos state government has also signed exclusive advertising pact with JCDecaux on the ongoing Lagos Metroline project; ditto for the uncompleted traffic interchange in Oshodi.

“If all these allusions are anything to go by, then the state government has just handed over all outdoor advertising services to foreigners. ‘’It might be catastrophic and monumental misstep to kill the nation’s outdoor advertising sector”, he added.