KWASAA rakes in N34m in 9 months
By Matthew Denis
The Kwara State Signage and Advertisement Agency (KWASAA) has generated a total sum of N34 million between the periods of January to September, 2018.
The General Manager, Ahmed Olufadi made the disclosure during an interview with Pilot Business on Tuesday regarding the influx of political signposts and billboards across the state.
He said ” between the first and third quarters of this year we have raked in about N34 million which is an improvement over what we did last year that we made N44 million for the whole year.
“We are hoping to do more in this last quarter at least to generate about N20 million for the internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from these political billboards considering the fact that political parties will naturally fly their billboards to campaign for the 2019 general elections ahead.
“As you know, the bills for political campaign is always higher than the commercial revenue so putting everything to consideration and the fact that we want to start reaching out to all the local governments where they have their billboards installed. We intend to make more money from them than hitherto.
Olufadi stressed that the agency will not take enforcement with levity as they will monitor the situation with armed security agencies to ensure that people comply with the laid down rules and regulations.
He therefore warned politicians against citing their signposts in government structures and impermissible areas and having thugs around such signposts to safeguard them.
“We have discovered that some thugs known as ‘area boys’ stay around these signboards to stop removal of these boards by the agency. In fact some of the ‘area boys molest our staff who are carrying out their legitimate duties.
“We’re now going out with armed police men therefore, we will not tolerate crisis and clash situations between our surveillance team and these boys because anything can happen and we don’t want casualties. All politicians are advised to desist from these activities of using thugs as guards to their billboards.
On logistics, the GM stressed that the Kwara Head of Service, Mrs. Susan Modupe Oluwole is aware of their demands as regards monitoring vehicle and she assured them of having their fair share soon.