By Mohammad Gana
Humans have been creating wall art since the time we lived in caves. The wall art at a certain point crossed from artistic display to marketing for a business called outdoor advertising.
Out of Home (OOH) or Outdoor Advertising includes any type of marketing done outdoors to grab people’s attention. The most popular format is billboard advertising.
We spend a great deal of our lives outside our homes hence the competition among advertisers fighting to stand out amidst the glut of ads on analog and digital devices. There is therefore the need for a less-cluttered environment to deliver their message. Enter Outdoor Advertising.
Outdoor advertising can deliver a relevant message to the mass/targeted audience with ease and efficiency and this medium offers consistency as well as stability when it comes to delivering brand awareness.
Of the benefits of outdoor advertising is that it is able to provide more clarity regarding the focus of the brand. With the help of outdoor advertising, you will be able to strategically place the brand message.
Today, Out of Home (OOH) advertising has gone beyond rusty poles signage in Nigeria. The major turnaround featured segmented scrolling billboards, Unipoles, Ultra waves, crossway billboards (Gantries) Backlit, Hexa signs and the latest of them is the Light Emitting Diodes LED screen Billboards. These evolutionary billboards designs are meant to make the outdoor advertising functions more effective, less stressful yet delivering value for money.
In 2006, there was massive demolition of Billboards in Abuja. The exercise was aimed at sanitizing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), but the resultant effect was the agony it caused some outdoor agencies, some even filed for bankruptcy.
In 2013 the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) approved a new Outdoor Advertising and Signage System for the FCT, the Department of Outdoors Advertisement & Signage (DOAS) which is expected to reverse the past haphazard state of affairs and restore beauty, legality and orderliness to the sector.
To this end, the revenue collected from outdoor advertisement and signage, all Area Councils collect 60% of the collection, FCTA collects 20% and DOAS collects 20%. Out of the 60% that goes to the Area Councils, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) gets 40%, and the rest is shared by the remaining 5 Area Councils. AMAC collects the lion share.
AMAC delegated the responsibility of collecting this revenue based on a decision with the FCT Administration and their own voluntary agreement to cede the responsibility to DOAS, this was in 2012 when an MoU with all six area councils and FCTA was signed and by laws came into effect.
It was in line with this that the DOAS in 2013 de-registered many outdoor advertising agencies operating in Abuja, due to N2.1b debts owed the FCT administration by pulling down of Signages and Signposts across the Territory.
With the approval, DOAS was created to ensure a successful and sustainable implementation of the system, and the system is to be implemented by the FCTA in collaboration with the six area councils of the FCT and reputable advertising consultants.
The aim of the new advertisement regulatory policy was to standardize all matters concerning outdoor advertising and signage, improve the aesthetic beauty of the Federal Capital Territory and sanitize the territory’s environment.
It is also intended to improve the internally generated revenue (IGR) profile of the FCT Administration. In consequence of this approval, all outdoor advertising practitioners, formal/informal businesses and the general public should note that enforcement shall commence three (months from the date of the publishing of the FCT Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signage (DOAS) Guidelines.
Dr. Baba Gana Adam, Director, FCT DOAS, giving further insight into the function of his department, said strategically they are three. One is to control, regulate and standardize outdoor advertisements, i. e. the billboards you see on the streets, the signages so you see on hotels, restaurants, filling stations etc. are to be controlled, standardized and regulated so that it is safe for humans and properties. Number two is to maintain the aesthetic beauty of the city; number three is to ensure the environment is protected and billboards don’t come in substandard form like the proliferation of illegal and substandard structures and finally through this process also generate some revenue so that DOAS can function properly without debilitating government resources that are meant for social welfare.
DOAS collects all outdoor advertisement and signage system whether it is a first party, this is a collection from shops, malls, restaurants, clinics, schools, filling stations, hotels, etc., you pay directly after registering. That is first party, it is supposed to be DOAS responsibility according to the by law.
The second party is directional signs and warning signs or caution signs for which there is no payment except registration, it is free and consists of government offices, road signs etc.
The third one is the third party, which is the big Billboards, Hoardings, along the major roads of the FCT, there is the outreaches, people who market products on the street, like food products, electronics etc., they would be drumming along the streets and putting banners promoting several brands etc.
The ones on the streetlights are called lampposts, it is also part of third party, signages, hoardings, billboards, these are all third party, the small ones are first party. The outreach is a temporary activity, if you want to dance around to promote a product, we charge you for that on a daily basis. Or you brand a hotel on its fence temporary, we charge on a daily basis. Those that paint building, that is first party, but they pay as branded building.
Following a lingering dispute between DOAS and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) on who has the legal rights to collect advertisement and signage taxes and levies, an amiable agreement was reached on January 18, 2021.
All issues were laid to rest with the declaration that henceforth “All collections with regards to outdoor advertisements and signages, including mobile, 1st party and 3rd party advertisements, be carried out by DOAS on behalf of AMAC”.
Thus, FCT through DOAS is always on its toes to keep up with modern technology in the field of outdoor advertising.
Outdoor advertising has its challenges among which are conflicting regulations and multiple taxation, huge debts and demolition of their billboards. In the face of all these, the practitioners are undaunted because outdoor advertising business is still booming in Nigeria.
The icing on the cake will be when the National Assembly (NASS) finally completes the constitutional mandate of passing the Bill before the NASS into an ACT transforming the specialized department into a modern-day Agency like the famous Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA). The Bill is sponsored by the Chairman, FCT House Committee Hon. Idris Abdullahi Garba, the Jagaban of Kontagora and eleven other Principal Officers of the National Assembly.
Mohammad Gana, a public affair analyst, wrote from Jahi, Abuja
