By Archibong Jeremiah
The General Manager, Chris Parkes Marketing Solutions, CPMS Africa, Cross River State Branch, concessionaire to the Cross River State Signage and Advertising Agency, CRISSAA, Mr. Ebenezer Maduako has promised that no business will be over charged or over taxed beyond normal rates.
Ebenezer made this known in an exclusive interview with CrossRiverWatch recently in his office, identified reluctance of business owners to pay their adverts and signage fees as a major impediment to their operations.
He pointed out that many people do advertising with lots of ignorance, maintaining that, “Our standard will encourage bigger outdoor advertising firms outside the state to come and invest in Cross River which will create more employment opportunities in the state. This will reduce the clusters taking the business backwards”.
He said his company’s aim apart from managing outdoor advertisement in the state also include raising the standard of outdoor advertising, improve the system with state of the art advertising facilities, counsel, educate, and create more business opportunities.
In terms of regulating outdoor business in the state cutting across the 18 local government areas with just an office in Calabar, he said: “In due course before this year runs out we will have offices across the state”.
According to him, “Right now we are doing assessments and issuing out relevant notices, also we are currently talking to investors outside the state that will like to come and build structures in the state”.
When asked the attitude of Cross Riverians towards CPMS Africa since signing the agreement with the state government, he said, “Cross Riverians are welcoming” while also expressing optimism that the more aware the people become of the importance of signage they will be more willing to pay their rates, adding that “Having a signage in front of your shop is the same as employing a sales person”.
Continuing, he promised that “We will not charge anybody more than required, the rates that were operated upon by the government previously have been reviewed to suite relevant standards, if these businessmen adhere to our recommendations it will improve patronage for them”.
Finally, he urged all business owners in the state to work in unison with his establishment for better productivity.