By Princewill Ekwujuru

Lagos State  Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA) and  outdoor advertising practitioners under the aegis of Outdoor Advertisers Association of Nigeria, OAAN have set up a 15-member committee to resolve lingering issues in the industry and chart a new way forward.

A source  says issues to be addressed by the committee include media buyers, agency rate review, vacant board discount policy; 12.5 percent in the harmonized law, health and safety concerns, structural stability among others.

The meeting which held at the head office of LASAA in Ikeja, Lagos had major outdoor advertising practitioners in the state present. The constituted committee had seven members from OAAN and eight members from LASAA.Addressing the meeting, Managing Director, LASAA, Mobolaji Sanusi said  in the agency’s effort to improve the relationship between it and outdoor advertising practitioners, it visited some organisations with a view to understanding their challenges and the various problems in the outdoor advertising sector. He said the meeting was the outcome of the various visits, as LASAA had collated some of the concerns of the outdoor advertising practitioners.

“In our efforts to ensure sanity in the industry, it is important to find lasting solutions to some of the issues that have bedeviled the industry,” he said, adding that the meeting should be an opportunity to strengthen “our relations so that in the end, it’s going to be a win-win for all of us.”

One of the critical issues discussed at the meeting were media buyers. The outdoor advertising practitioners decried a situation whereby major brands, such as Glo, Nigeria Breweries, among others, frequently owed the practitioners after their advertising campaigns had been displayed.