Diran Akinwunmi ( not real names) has spent over 20 years abroad where he cut his teeth in advertising business.
The patriotic zeal was not lost on him when he decided to come home five years ago to practice what he knows how to do best with a view to shooting the nation’s advertising sector into global reckoning.
He soon realised that his dream of placing the nation’s advertising sector on the world map is dim due to the harsh business environment, particularly the over-regulation of the industry he is committed to grow.
Today, Diran’s company has closed shop as he has since relocated to his base abroad.
Advertising is not only the sector that has suffered untold hardship as a result of the over-regulation regime placed on the handlers of the nation’s economy.
Coupled with the high cost of doing business and multiple taxes in Nigeria, many businesses have closed shop while others have relocated outside the shores of the land where the business environment is relatively friendly.
Although the ease of Doing Business has improved recently, according to World Bank assessment, operators in oil and gas, insurance, small scale enterprises and other business concerns have continued to “bear fangs” over excessive regulation in the country.
President of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, recently lamented that outdoor advertising industry in Nigeria is under serious threat and faces the risk of collapsing if nothing is done, in earnest, to check excess regulations According to him, 70% of advertisers have withdrawn from the use of outdoor advertising due to its numerous regulations and multiple taxations.
The President of Outdoor Advertising Association Nigeria (OAAN), Mr Chijide stated that lots of businesses have suffered and died as a result of the hostile nature of the outdoor industry in which they operate.
According to him, this is very harmful to an industry that is still growing and struggling to survive amidst challenges posed by the nation’s economy and other competitive media such as radio, television and the ever popular online advertisement.
Stakeholders observe that in 2012, the Advertising Practi-tioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) during a forum held to discuss the irregularities and issues facing the outdoor industry, made a commitment to modify the existing laws in the industry and enact new laws that will be beneficial for all stakeholders within the industry.
Today, they lament that they still notice various acts of misconduct and unnecessary taxation still prevailing in the advertising sector.
They said street urchins (touts) still go about collecting money from billboard operators and nothing is done about it, while excess taxation and regulation from regulatory bodies and the government still hamper the successful growth of outdoor advertisement in Nigeria.
An outdoor advertising practitioner, Mr Kings Adebayo, lamented that the regulatory bodies as well as the government seem to be so focused on what they stand to gain from board operators without seeing the negative effect it is having on the growth of outdoor advertising in Nigeria.
He said: “When compared to our foreign counterparts, we are lagging behind in Out-Of-Home (OOH) advertising in terms of creativity and technological advancement. Excessive regu-lation has dampened the spirit of many advertisers and business owners, preventing them exploring the endless possibilities and potentials inherent in outdoor advertising.”
There are also concern that over-regulation of the insurance sector by the agents of the government is partly responsible for the state of the sector in the country.
In the oil and gas sector, many operators grapple with the regulations imposed on them by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),Weight and Measures, Ministry of Trade and Investment, Standards Organization of Nigeria(SON), agents of the federal, state and local governments in their areas of operation.
Little wonder, the Inter-national Oil Companies (IOC)in the country, recently, lamented the cost of doing business in Nigeria, saying it is not economically friendly.
Director-General of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yussuf, also recently, expressed concerns over excessive regulations of businesses by the tiers of government in the country.
According to him, the manufacturing sector cannot grow under such harsh business environment Chief Ralph Uche, immediate past president of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association(NECA), said in Lagos that some regulatory institutions in the country do not understand the logic of using their powers to enhance entrepreneurship and create wealth.
He said they have, instead, been focusing on pecuniary revenue generation and seem to be interested in concocting all manner of justifications to compel business to pay one levy or the other.
He said: “Most of them have elevated themselves to the level of king whose words cannot be questioned. Oftentimes, they shun dialogues with private sector business membership organisations and on some occasions, ruthless by shutting the gates of companies that refuse to give in to their untoward actions and requests.”
He appealed to the govern-ment to call the agencies to order, given the fact that they are killing local businesses and portraying Nigeria as an unfriendly investors’ destination.
Mr Fola Adesiyan, a public analyst, says government needs to tell officials of the agencies to cooperate with businesses to better the nation’s economic environment.
“No one is averse to regulation but a situation where it is done in
excess is nothing but a mere over-kill which is dangerous to the economy. These agencies need to be moderated; their officials need to be told again that their duty is not to constitute themselves as a Frankenstein monsters to businesses in the country.’’
A senior official of the Department of Petroleum Resources told our correspondent that his agency is constitutionally guided to regulate the nation’s oil and gas industry and has continually done so within the confines of the enabling law.
Commissioner for Insurance, Mr.Fola Adeola, said it was not true that the sector is over-regulated by his agency. He said the International Monetary Fund and Standards and Poors assessment of the nation’s insurance sector is that the sector is still poorly regulated by the government.
He said therefore that the government is on the verge of putting in place stricter regulations that would put the sector in sound footing.
“We have been threading softly, deliberately because if you want to develop a sector like insurance sector, you cannot be too hard on people. We should reprimand them and spur them to do what is correct.
“If some operators think NAICOM has been draconian, I will say that is because we intend to implement the laws governing insurance in Nigeria.’’
Stakeholders in the nation’s economy are of the opinion that Nigeria needs regulations that would provide the enzyme for businesses to grow as well as boost the confidence of the government in Nigeria’s economic environment.
