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Lasaa: Now that Tunji Bello has Taken over
- By Ikem Okuhu
- Published October 11th, 2010
- BrandWorld
- Unrated
After months of controversy, Makanjuola Alabi has handed over the reins to Tunji Bello at the Lagos’ fearsome outdoor regulatory body as stakeholders want the past behind while they also list expectations, writes IKEM OKUHU
SOMETHING is actually wrong with the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (Lasaa). And I am not talking about the controversy that led to the exit of Mr. Makanjuola Alabi as the managing director of this agency set up to regulate outdoor advertising in Lagos State but which as time wore on, became embroiled in very serious scandals bordering on corruption, nepotism and high-handedness.
You may not understand me but I really think that an agency such as this should be thorough in all its activities. What the heck I am talking about?
Well, try visiting the LASAA website and you would appreciate me a bit. While researching this story, I opened www.lasaa-ng.com and encountered a news letter announcing the handing over of the reigns from Makanjuola to Mr. Tunji Bello, who was appointed just a couple of weeks ago.
The first paragraph of this news item reads: “The newly appointed Managing Director of the Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Mr. Tunji Bello has expressed his readiness to improve on the achievement and standards of his predecessor. Mr. Bello said this at the handing over ceremony which took place at the Agencys (sic) head office in Alausa on Monday 27th October 2010.”
Now wait a minute: October 27, 2010 is still some three weeks away and someone is saying that a handover had been done on that date?
But that is not the story here although this just goes to show just how well LASAA under Makanjuola was able to do its job well.
Now back to the story of the week, Makanjuola was fired from LASAA a couple of weeks ago and replaced by Tunji Bello. Apart from those that profited from MAkanjuola’s regime at the regulatory agency, there is hardly anyone who is not celebrating the ouster of this man many believe came close to doing a very good job but who, like many Nigerians in positions of power, find a way to just not get it right at the end of the day. Makanjuola’s mandate at LASAA was to sanitise the industry that was begging for a thorough clean-up. Before he came on board, the outdoor business in Lagos, as in most other parts of the country was an all comers field. Billboards could almost be erected in the middle of the road by anyone who could boast of knowing any local government chairman. Lagos streets were a mass of sprawling graffiti as posters appeared just about anywhere, including on billboards that have been paid for by another advertiser. It was really crazy!
So the government thought fast. At the time, the incumbent LASAA CEO was the commissioner for environment min Lagos and he reasonably felt there was need for sanity. Everyone agreed. Including the players themselves.
All was going well until it began to emerge that LASAA was beginning to be oppressive. Worse still, players began to see the sporadic growth of a particular agency, AltiMedia, allegedly owned and operated by the same person heading LASAA. His name is Makanjuola.
Now, how can a person that was supposed to be regulating also playing in the field. In sports for instance, when the referee suddenly adorns the jersey of a football team, his neutrality is immediately compromised. But as outdoor advertisers cried, LASAA pretended that all was well and the field was even enough for all.
Although streets became cleaner as players complied, rates soared and it soon became clear that AltiMedia was growing to become the biggest outdoor advertiser, owning unipoles and gantries all over the place.
Then the most damning scandal came. A group of “stakeholders” petitioned the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, alleging that a N2 billion fraud had taken place in LASAA. In a 5-page document titled “LASA, Another name for fraud” the petitioners, this group alleged that the unprecedented fraud was spearheaded and perpetrated by Mr. Makanjuola Alabi himself, working with other staff of the agency.
The group represented by their National Coordinator, Olajide O.O and Secretary, Akanbi K, respectively alleged that in 2006 during the regime of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the sum of N130M was approved by the administration for the agency and released by Fashola’s administration in 2007 to procure heavy duty equipments like Cranes, HIAB, Hydraulic Man-lift, and Trucks, but nothing was purchased up till this moment.
The group also alleged that in 2007 alone, two hundred and forty million naira (N240 million) was siphoned from the agency’s coffers without any job done or contract awarded. In 2008 and 2009 respectively, the sum of three hundred and sixty million naira each was spent, totaling seven hundred and twenty million naira (N720 MILLION) without recourse to due process in line with the fiscal responsibility provisions of the Lagos State Government.
More worrisome is the fact that the agency has no business in the execution of street lights projects within Lagos metropolis, a job, according to them was solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Works.
They further alleged that the first set of street light projects for Kingsway Road, Ikoyi was awarded to Private Network Nigeria (PNN), an indigenous company for N75M but now the same contract/project in terms of specifications and volume is being awarded to Lillekker, a foreign company for N180M, stating that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should wade into the matter as the Lagos state Government is treating the fraud with kid gloves.
The successive frauds, according to the petitioners, have been committed with impunity as the perpetrators are even boasting that nobody can question them as they are being treated as ‘sacred cows’ within the Lagos state Government circles.
The petitioners further noted that there were vouchers raised in respect of Enforcement activities of the said Agency that did not even take place between 19th December and 21st December, 2007 to cover all the 20 main local Government Areas in Lagos State with the following cash advance numbers 001902 to 001909, in the retirement of the said cash advances, no Cranes, HIABs, Trucks, Gas, Artisans were used at all.
The vouchers, according to the petitioners, were used to cover up for one of the Management numerous illegal spending they fondly called ‘PR for Alausa people’.
Many people are of the view that it was the fallout of this allegation that forced the hand of government to give the LASAA chief the boot.
AT the moment, member firms of the Outdoor Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (OAAN) are celebrating the sack of a man they felt made business very difficult for them. Most are of the view that Makanjuola exploited his position to feather his own nest and create opportunities for his company, which he illegally ran while on the saddle as LASAA boss.
“You do not sit as a regulator and also manage a firm in the same industry,” Ada Ngwu, an outdoor player said. “For me, Mr. Makanjuola stayed too long on his seat and should have been fired long ago. I am not even speaking of the fraud allegations that heralded his departure. The man was just doing his personal business and that is improper for the running of a regulatory agency.”
Ada may be happy, but the real challenge is to read the mind of the man that just took charge to determine the direction he is going to drive the agency. Should Tunji Bello, a well respected journalist decide to chastise the industry even harder, then this change would just amount to nothing.
But most people are already seeing in Mr Bello a man that would go the whole haul in restoring some dignity to LASAA. When he was appointed the Commissioner for the Environment, it was Mr Bello’s vision that saw the establishment of LASAA as a regulatory broom to clean up this industry that was clearly contributing to the unkempt look of Lagos at the time. The vision to set up LASAA was a part of the Lagos Mega City project.
SOMETHING is actually wrong with the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (Lasaa). And I am not talking about the controversy that led to the exit of Mr. Makanjuola Alabi as the managing director of this agency set up to regulate outdoor advertising in Lagos State but which as time wore on, became embroiled in very serious scandals bordering on corruption, nepotism and high-handedness.
You may not understand me but I really think that an agency such as this should be thorough in all its activities. What the heck I am talking about?
Well, try visiting the LASAA website and you would appreciate me a bit. While researching this story, I opened www.lasaa-ng.com and encountered a news letter announcing the handing over of the reigns from Makanjuola to Mr. Tunji Bello, who was appointed just a couple of weeks ago.
The first paragraph of this news item reads: “The newly appointed Managing Director of the Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Mr. Tunji Bello has expressed his readiness to improve on the achievement and standards of his predecessor. Mr. Bello said this at the handing over ceremony which took place at the Agencys (sic) head office in Alausa on Monday 27th October 2010.”
Now wait a minute: October 27, 2010 is still some three weeks away and someone is saying that a handover had been done on that date?
But that is not the story here although this just goes to show just how well LASAA under Makanjuola was able to do its job well.
Now back to the story of the week, Makanjuola was fired from LASAA a couple of weeks ago and replaced by Tunji Bello. Apart from those that profited from MAkanjuola’s regime at the regulatory agency, there is hardly anyone who is not celebrating the ouster of this man many believe came close to doing a very good job but who, like many Nigerians in positions of power, find a way to just not get it right at the end of the day. Makanjuola’s mandate at LASAA was to sanitise the industry that was begging for a thorough clean-up. Before he came on board, the outdoor business in Lagos, as in most other parts of the country was an all comers field. Billboards could almost be erected in the middle of the road by anyone who could boast of knowing any local government chairman. Lagos streets were a mass of sprawling graffiti as posters appeared just about anywhere, including on billboards that have been paid for by another advertiser. It was really crazy!
So the government thought fast. At the time, the incumbent LASAA CEO was the commissioner for environment min Lagos and he reasonably felt there was need for sanity. Everyone agreed. Including the players themselves.
All was going well until it began to emerge that LASAA was beginning to be oppressive. Worse still, players began to see the sporadic growth of a particular agency, AltiMedia, allegedly owned and operated by the same person heading LASAA. His name is Makanjuola.
Now, how can a person that was supposed to be regulating also playing in the field. In sports for instance, when the referee suddenly adorns the jersey of a football team, his neutrality is immediately compromised. But as outdoor advertisers cried, LASAA pretended that all was well and the field was even enough for all.
Although streets became cleaner as players complied, rates soared and it soon became clear that AltiMedia was growing to become the biggest outdoor advertiser, owning unipoles and gantries all over the place.
Then the most damning scandal came. A group of “stakeholders” petitioned the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, alleging that a N2 billion fraud had taken place in LASAA. In a 5-page document titled “LASA, Another name for fraud” the petitioners, this group alleged that the unprecedented fraud was spearheaded and perpetrated by Mr. Makanjuola Alabi himself, working with other staff of the agency.
The group represented by their National Coordinator, Olajide O.O and Secretary, Akanbi K, respectively alleged that in 2006 during the regime of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the sum of N130M was approved by the administration for the agency and released by Fashola’s administration in 2007 to procure heavy duty equipments like Cranes, HIAB, Hydraulic Man-lift, and Trucks, but nothing was purchased up till this moment.
The group also alleged that in 2007 alone, two hundred and forty million naira (N240 million) was siphoned from the agency’s coffers without any job done or contract awarded. In 2008 and 2009 respectively, the sum of three hundred and sixty million naira each was spent, totaling seven hundred and twenty million naira (N720 MILLION) without recourse to due process in line with the fiscal responsibility provisions of the Lagos State Government.
More worrisome is the fact that the agency has no business in the execution of street lights projects within Lagos metropolis, a job, according to them was solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Works.
They further alleged that the first set of street light projects for Kingsway Road, Ikoyi was awarded to Private Network Nigeria (PNN), an indigenous company for N75M but now the same contract/project in terms of specifications and volume is being awarded to Lillekker, a foreign company for N180M, stating that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should wade into the matter as the Lagos state Government is treating the fraud with kid gloves.
The successive frauds, according to the petitioners, have been committed with impunity as the perpetrators are even boasting that nobody can question them as they are being treated as ‘sacred cows’ within the Lagos state Government circles.
The petitioners further noted that there were vouchers raised in respect of Enforcement activities of the said Agency that did not even take place between 19th December and 21st December, 2007 to cover all the 20 main local Government Areas in Lagos State with the following cash advance numbers 001902 to 001909, in the retirement of the said cash advances, no Cranes, HIABs, Trucks, Gas, Artisans were used at all.
The vouchers, according to the petitioners, were used to cover up for one of the Management numerous illegal spending they fondly called ‘PR for Alausa people’.
Many people are of the view that it was the fallout of this allegation that forced the hand of government to give the LASAA chief the boot.
AT the moment, member firms of the Outdoor Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (OAAN) are celebrating the sack of a man they felt made business very difficult for them. Most are of the view that Makanjuola exploited his position to feather his own nest and create opportunities for his company, which he illegally ran while on the saddle as LASAA boss.
“You do not sit as a regulator and also manage a firm in the same industry,” Ada Ngwu, an outdoor player said. “For me, Mr. Makanjuola stayed too long on his seat and should have been fired long ago. I am not even speaking of the fraud allegations that heralded his departure. The man was just doing his personal business and that is improper for the running of a regulatory agency.”
Ada may be happy, but the real challenge is to read the mind of the man that just took charge to determine the direction he is going to drive the agency. Should Tunji Bello, a well respected journalist decide to chastise the industry even harder, then this change would just amount to nothing.
But most people are already seeing in Mr Bello a man that would go the whole haul in restoring some dignity to LASAA. When he was appointed the Commissioner for the Environment, it was Mr Bello’s vision that saw the establishment of LASAA as a regulatory broom to clean up this industry that was clearly contributing to the unkempt look of Lagos at the time. The vision to set up LASAA was a part of the Lagos Mega City project.
