As the Oborevwori administration continues to ramp up innovations in public governance, a new era has been ushered in in outdoor advertising regulation, compliance, payments and enforcement across the state with the formal unveiling of the Delta Stat Centralised Smart Advertising Management Platform.
Performing the official unveiling, Thursday, at the Benizia Hotel, Asaba, State Governor Rt Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori said that the state had lost so much revenue on account of what he termed “the disaggregated collection of outdoor advertising revenue on account of the haphazard nature of the outdoor advertisement administration process which depended largely on the use of touts at the local government level, a situation which he said generated a lot of confusion in the outdoor advertisement administration ecosystem in the state.
He stated that this chaotic situation became unacceptable and a directive was issued for a total overhauling of the system to create a more robust, efficient and technologically-driven solution.
The Governor, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kingsley Emu, gave a marching order to the Delta State Signage and Advertising Agency, DESSAA to ensure that lost revenues are recovered through a strict process of enforcement, stressing that the state government had put in a lot of work into redesigning the outdoor advertising ecosystem in the state, urging stakeholders to work closely together to ensure that the initiative generates required revenue for the benefit of the local government areas and the state at large.
Oborevwori commended the management of DESSAA and the consultant for the initiative.
Speaking earlier in a welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of the Delta State Signage and Advertising Agency, DESSAA, Hon Sebastine Okoh noted that the unveiling of the digital platform was a product of Governor Oborevwori’s vision of a revitalised, purposeful and result-oriented Agency.
According to Hon Okoh, the effort to rebrand DESSA involved “reviewing our internal processes, introducing a new culture of efficiency and professionalism, strengthening stakeholder engagement, building strategic partnerships as well as developing innovative solutions aimed at improving service delivery.”
These initiatives, he said, culminated in the unveiling of the Centralised Smart Advertising Managing Platform, CSAMP.
While emphasising that the new platform will eliminate revenue leakages, Okoh warned against payment of cash, as the platform provides multiple online payment channels.
Giving an overview of the platform, representative of the technical consultant, Mr. Charles Omordia stated that digital solutions help organisations to build strong and efficient ecosystems in order to have seamless operations. Omordia listed some of the features of DESSAA-CSAMP to include quick and seamless registration of advertising structures; faster online application review, approval and renewal processes; accurate location tracking of advertising assets across Delta State; instant QR code verification of registered structures; real-time monitoring to support regulatory enforcement, as well as analytics dashboard for informed decision-making.
Mr. Omordia revealed that the platform also has a ‘marketplace’ where transactions can be done between asset owners, clients and practitioners, without meeting physically.
In his remarks, the chairman of the Governing Board of DESSAA, Olorogun Jaro Egbo revealed that the project was a joint venture arrangement between the 25 Local Government Councils and the state government. He called on the 25 local government councils and outdoor advertising practitioners to cooperate with DESSAA to ensure a seamless operation.
As the Centralized Smart Advertising Management Platform comes on stream, it is expected that Outdoor Advertising administration will attain international best practices where the ecosystem would be strengthened to deliver on its mandate of an environmentally friendly operation, as well as create a revolutionary revenue stream for Delta State.
