Erratic Power Supply Stifles Nigerian OOH Growth

President of Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Mr. Charles Chijide, has called on the Nigerian government to address the issue of inadequate electricity supply in the country,  as it is inhibiting the growth of the outdoor advertising industry.

Chijide, speaking to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that inadequate power supply is stifling the industry’s growth making it difficult for the Nigerian OOH landscape to keep up with the fast pace of innovative technological advancement within the global OOH scene.

He bemoaned the challenges faced by outdoor advertising practitioners in Nigeria stating that the cost of operation for practitioners is increasing daily. He noted that practitioners spend nothing less than N1 million on diesel every month in order to keep their businesses thriving.

In his words “The major challenge facing outdoor advertising, just like every other business, is the cost of diesel. Each company spends up to N1 million on diesel every month. You spend about 18 hours every working during the day at work and not less than nine hours to 10 hours on generator for our sites and offices because there is no reliable public power supply.”

Chijide further identified multiple taxation and policies by government, access to loans, absence of titles on sites and issuance of Certificates of Occupancy as challenges bedeviling the industry. He said “Our sites don’t have titles, we request that the government starts issuing us Certificates of Occupancy for us to use as collateral, to access loans.”

Chijide therefore urged the government to create a more enabling environment to encourage manufacturing, in order to bring about a resultant influence on the advertising sector. He further appealed to the government to address the issue of electricity so as to reduce the cost of doing business and to create more jobs.