By Archibong Jeremiah
The Director General of Cross River State Signage and Advertisement Agency, CRISSAA Mr. Godwin Iyala has disclosed that his agency came about as a result of difficulties involved in regulating the advertisement business in the state especially outdoor advertisement.
He made this known in an exclusive interview with CrossRiverWatch recently in his office in Calabar. According to Mr. Iyala, “Advertisement is meant to popularize you and your business, bring attention to what you sell. Outdoor structures can be used to add beauty to the aesthetic nature of the environment and the business”.
The DG of CRISSAA affirmed that “Outdoor advertisement is big business world over, many cities are defined by outdoor displays. We are trying to bring in modern trends of outdoor advertisement into Cross River State”.
He however lamented that, “When there are cluster of adverts in a particular place it won’t be nice because they will be struggling for space which in turn losses the effectiveness of the information seeking to be disseminated, for this reason some have been marked for removal relocation, already some have been removed example are some at 11-11 roundabout”.
He Further disclosed that, it is for effectiveness in disseminating information through outdoor advertisement and security that the government introduced electronic billboards which are currently two in the state.
“Soon we will introduce modern outdoor advertisement equipment known as ultra wave that works with the wave. We have two electronic bill boards now already in Calabar, one in front of the airport while the other is at Mary Slessor by Calabar road. The electronic bill board because of its capital intensiveness it can only be mounted where there is constant electricity and where the population thrives, it cannot be mounted yet at the rural areas because of these and other reasons. It has massive security benefit because anywhere you have the electronic bill boards at night it illuminates vast areas around it, before the year runs out we will mount another two or more”.
Mr. Iyala maintained that as a means of sanitizing the business atmosphere and fishing out quacks, the state government recognizes only advertisers who are certified by Advertisement Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON.
When asked what the nature of the financial deal CRISSAA has with its concessionaires, Chris Parks Marketing Solution, CPMS he said the concessionaires are to manage the outdoor advertisement for ten years, “every month they are to make returns to the government; they give government 70% of the income generated and keep 30%. The money they generate they don’t have access to it and in the next five years to come, I see Cross River State as a reference point in advertisement management and outdoor advertising”.
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