Parties Spend N4.9bn On Political Adverts

With just five days to the March 28 elections, advertising spend on
political campaigns has been estimated to have cost political parties,
friends and well wishers of those seeking elective offices a princely
N4.9 billion so far. However, federal and state advert regulatory
agencies have expressed displeasure over publications of unapproved
advert materials.

According to data gathered from different advert agencies and reports
from advert regulatory bodies, the print media have so far raked in
about N1.382 billion of the advert spend, with the All Progressives
Congress, APC spending N332.503 million on its presidential candidate,
while its Peoples Democratic Party, PDP counterpart spent N1.049
billion, which is 65.5 per cent higher than the amount spent by APC.
Field reports further put other expenses on campaign rallies for PDP
and APC at N1.057 billion and N595.082 million respectively. Both
parties also spent N224.36 million on outdoor campaigns.

The broadcast campaign coverage for the presidential candidates were
put at N508.35 million and N391.05 million for PDP and APC. Electronic
media adverts were N733.9million for PDP and N555.6 million for APC
respectively, bringing the total amount to N2.5 billion. In summary, a
total of N4.973 billion has been spent on campaign expenses, with PDP
and APC spending N3.549 billion and N1.424 billion respectively.

Last year, the Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria, AAAN had
projected that the 2015 general elections will contribute billions of
naira to the advert industry, an amount it said will form major part
of the advertising spend for the 2015 advertising year. But from
recent development and the run of political campaigns so far, the
projection has been surpassed in terms of adspend. However, advert
practitioners feel the estimate is much less than what has been spent,
going by the inability of heads of sectoral bodies in the advert
industry to track the amount spent by politicians, as a result of the
haphazard nature the adverts were given out.

It would be recalled that in 2014, former president of AAAN and Chief
Operating Officer of 141 Worldwide, Bunmi Oke, predicted a bright
future for any ad agency that puts its act together to tap into the
windfall expected from the election year and the huge budget
politicians would earmark for the 2015 political campaigns.

Worried by the bulk of political campaign materials,Financial Vanguard
sampled the opinions of stakeholders who were particularly
disappointed at the manner unapproved political materials litter
advertising spaces in the country.

It is a fact that Nigeria has a history of not coming out with
election spending figures, and data are equally unavailable on the
actual spending of politicians on campaigns. But going by the volume
of materials churned out through the different media of communication
for political parties, it is no longer in doubt that billions of naira
were spent in the 2015 election campaigns.

The AAAN members observed with great concern the spate of unhealthy
smear campaigns by the political parties and shadow interest groups
across the various media channels.

AAAN said: "In obvious disregard of the advertising code and ethics of
the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, a body
saddled with the responsibility of regulating and controlling
advertisement in the country, and the AAAN, most of these political
advertisements have been exposed without going through the vetting
procedures and consequent approvals from the Advertising Standards
Panel, ASP, of APCON.

"Our concerns are that the professional values of the advertising
practice and indeed, public sensibilities, as well as the very
stability of the polity have been severely undermined by the continued
character assassinations, wanton abuses, unrestrained attacks, threats
and counter- threats that have become the bane of political
communication building up to the elections," AAAN said in a release.

Kayode Olagesin, Managing Director of Towncriers, an activation agency
said: "There is no time in the history of the country that we have
witnessed this volume of campaigns. I tell you, I don't see them
spending less than N5 billion on each of the presidential candidates.

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