|
|
Liberia: Billboard Contract Sparks Discontentment
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The NEWS (Monrovia)
22 July 2008
Posted to the web 22 July 2008
Monrovia
A billboard contract awarded to Media Tech, an advertising agent, has sparked feud within the advertising industry with the Commissioner of the Township of Congo Town, Mac John Russell, threatening to halt the erection of any billboard in the township unless the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) recognizes its authority.
He said the LEC had granted a billboard contract to Media Tech without acknowledging the authority of the Township in such a venture for which he stopped the group from using the area.
The Commissioner made the statement recently after he gathered that the LEC had ordered Media Tech to erect its billboards within the township without getting authorization from him.
Commissioner Russell warned that any move by Media Tech and LEC to erect billboards in the township would be resisted. He said although LEC planted the light-poles in the township, but that such a deal should meet the acquiescence of the commissioner.
He disclosed that Premier, a Liberian-based advertising agent, was the first entity that communicated with the township requesting the usage of 60 poles for advertising business within the township. The Commissioner said he approved of Premier's request, but the LEC has refused to give the number of poles requested by Premier.
The Commissioner's warning comes at the time when two advertising agencies, Premier and Media Tech are scrambling over the control of certain light-poles for advertising purposes.
According to information gathered by this paper, LEC has granted 350 light poles (from Duala to Sinkor) to Media Tech for advertising purpose. LEC's Public Affairs officer, Slewion Tito confirmed that LEC and Media Tech signed an agreement recently for the usage of certain light-poles. However, he declined to state categorically whether Premier made similar request.
When this paper contacted Premier, a spokesperson said a request to LEC was made long ago, but for no reason LEC has refused to address their request. The spokesperson said Premier has already received authorization from the townships of Congo Town, Paynesville, New Georgia as well as Gardnerville for the usage of their respective areas for advertising business.
When our reporter visited Media Tech, two foreign staff declined to comment, saying that they were not authorized to speak on the issue.
|
Investigation continues.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
